Fixing Petal
by BlueDreamer31
Summary: Petal has been abused by her dad for as long as she remembers. Until one day she just.. Runs away. She doesn't look back and she doesn't want to be put with someone else. After all, humans are born to hurt others. But then she finds the Benedicts, and everything seems to change. Especially when she meets Gray, who seems hellbent on 'fixing' her. But she doesn't need fixing, right?
1. Chapter 1

_"Mummy? Mummy, where are you going?" Tugging at mummy's sleeve I tried to pry her attention away from the door. But her hand was already on the handle – she didn't even look my way._

 _"Get outta my way you little brat, I shoulda left this house a long time ago and I'm not letting you spoil it." Not letting how she spoke to me deter me, I pulled a little harder. I didn't want mummy to leave me with the monsters in the house. Why would she do that? She… She knew what they'd do to me if she left. She knew._

 _"Mummy no! Don't leave me mummy please!"_

 _"Stop making a scene, you'll wake your dad up." Finally turning towards me, I saw the glint shining through her eyes. She always had that dazed look, but I didn't understand why. It was like she wasn't actually here. Like she was possessed by something that wouldn't let her escape. "And you wouldn't want that, now would you?" She looked ready to throw me to the sharks. To throw me to him._

 _"No, mummy." Shaking my head, my pig-tails swung wildly from side to side. Before they could settle down though, she grabbed one of them and yanked down hard. "Owie! No! Stop!" A filthy hand came to rest over my mouth. I wish she'd stop, mummy was supposed to be my hero but instead she was doing the opposite – she wasn't saving me, she was condemning me to a life of pain._

 _"Now shaddup and be a good girl. I'm sure daddy will appreciate it." With that, she left. Leaving me confused and alone and hurt. My head was still sore. That didn't matter though, did it? Because a shadow had covered the view of the street. Daddy was here. I'd soon be in a lot more pain._

Gasping awake, I clutched at my chest, trying to calm down my beating heart. I hoped I hadn't screamed, the monster hit me harder when I woke him up whilst he had a hangover. And he was _always_ hung over. The dream had been chasing me for the past 10 years. Even still, it put me close to tears every time.

That was the night my mum left me. The night I discovered that I was surrounded – no one would save me. I should've realised sooner that I was such a disgrace that no one would care if I got killed by my dad. But I had been 7, I couldn't help but hope.

Glancing at the alarm clock quickly, I saw it was 5am. I still had a while before he showed up so quickly getting dressed in my old sweater and jeans, I rushed to the kitchen. I was supposed to make all the meals in this house (including lunch, despite the fact that I was at school during that), meaning that an early start never hurt. The tiredness in my muscles would but at least that wouldn't be joined by a beating.

Before that fateful night when mum left us, dad had only beaten her. Whenever he tried to lay a hand on me he went into a sort of daze, and as mum glared him down, he'd leave the room. The screams from their bedroom when that happened were always worse. I think mum did something to him. He must've realised this just like I did. But I digress: the minute she abandoned me and no one was left, he started hitting me. He even blamed me for her disappearance, despite me having been the one to beg her to stay.

Flipping a pancake on the stove, I continued to reminisce. I was never alone with my thoughts so I appreciated these times when my dad's shouting didn't overcrowd me, or back me up into a corner. Quickly finishing up, I set the table and went back to the stove. It was 5:30 and I still needed to make lunch. I must've been slower than usual. Sighing and shaking my head at myself, I picked up the pace. I couldn't afford to be late.

Whilst doing my morning routine as fast as I could, I caught my reflection in one of the dark windows. My mousy, blond hair had stuck up in tufts all around me, giving me an excuse to take a break for a second to pat it all down. I couldn't do anything about my eyes though – they always looked frantic, like I was constantly searching for an exit that wasn't there. But that _was_ what I was doing, so I wasn't too hard on myself over it.

"Petal! Breakfast better be ready by the time I come down!" Jumping away from the window in shock, I finished placing the plate in the microwave. I wouldn't want it to go cold. Last time I did that he made me stick my hand in ice for 30 minutes. Needless to say, my hand was still recovering from that.

"It is daddy." He was clomping down the stairs, making a ridiculous amount of excessive noise. He was deafening to be around, especially considering the stark contrast with me. I made it a habit to never make the floorboards creak, to never speak up. My life was surrounded by silence. At least, until he came.

I was still facing the microwave, trying to ignore something which I would soon be forced to endure. The morning had begun. And it normally started with a couple of slaps to the face. My fists had clenched subconsciously, as I smelt the reek of alcohol which seemed impregnated to him. Normally it wasn't that strong but today… Today he was standing closer. Too close.

"Hello darling." Oh no. Oh no. Oh _no_. This was so bad it was unreal. When he'd come up from behind me and put his arms around my waist I thought he was only going to turn me around so he could get a clean shot at my stomach. But he wasn't turning me around for that purpose, and I realised that too late, when his lips were already on mine. I was ramrod straight, all of the muscles in my back tightening in fear. I had school in half an hour, maybe I could use it as an excuse? "I've got a client coming in later tonight. He ordered one of my services that isn't on the list. He wanted you. Just for the night. And it's made me think, y'know? I haven't really been making use of you apart from cleaning and cooking, but maybe it's time I do. After all, you _are_ a grown woman, aren't you?" I was shaking in fear, my knees feeling week. This couldn't be happening.

I'd expected him to try to do something to my body, after all he hadn't held himself back when it came to hurting me, so why wouldn't he do it in every way he could? Yet after the years passed, I'd relaxed slightly, convinced he wasn't _that_ much of a monster. Perhaps I'd been mistaken.

"And I feel in the mood for it today, so I was thinking you take the day off school and I warm you up for my friend. How does that sound, _Petal_?" The way he said my name sent shivers running down my back, but I swallowed it down, clutching my fists to my sides. I didn't want to do this. I really really didn't. So instead of saying anything, I just stood there, only being held up by his hands. "I asked you a question!" Before I knew what was happening, I had been thrown half way across the room. Maybe being unconscious for this wouldn't be so bad.

"No dad please. Don't!" But he was climbing on me already, and there was nothing I could do.

That day, I lost the last part of myself.

 **Hi :)**  
 **I know this was kind of a depressing chapter but I promise it'll get happier :) I haven't been on fanfiction in ages, this is the first story I've uploaded in a while, so I hope you guys like it!**  
 **It's going to be about Gray (Sky and Zed's son) and Petal, and i'm really excited about this! Anyways, I'm not Joss Stirling, as you could've probably guessed now, and if you leave me some feedback in the comments about what you think, that'd be amazing :)**  
 **Bye bye ^.^**


	2. Chapter 2

Since that day, quite a lot had happened. After being violated for a week, both by my dad and any friend who was willing to pay for my 'services', I ran away. Pain was all I saw as my hand grabbed shakily at the doorknob and slowly pried the door open. I did just like mum did, taking off in the middle of the night when he wouldn't suspect a thing. Night was when the monsters were supposed to come out and play but it was when I finally found my escape.

I'd suffered for far too long and I just couldn't stand it anymore. I was supposed to be the docile little daughter that did everything he asked me to – but I'd reached my limit. So on that day, a semblance of hope had taken over my chest, pushing back the fears and moving my feet towards the door. Before I'd even realised what I'd done, I was on the outskirts of town, only a few houses surrounding me.

My plan hadn't been very well thought out though, I knew how to get out of town but after that all there was was a long, endless highway. I don't know for how long I walked for, just that it was much too long. By the time I found a gas station I was ready to collapse. I hadn't eaten in days, and I'd been sleeping by the side of the road, with no blanket to keep the cold at bay. When I first saw it it had seemed so far away, like I was looking at it through a dark tunnel. No matter how much I walked I never seemed to get any closer. And one day, when I was sure I couldn't keep going any longer, it was suddenly there.

"H-help. Please help." I was clutching at the counter with both hands but I was too weak and soon fell to the ground. My eyes had tried to close of their own accord but I pried them open, wanting to be able to see what was happening around me. My dad had taught me that after countless beatings.

The guy standing behind the counter was staring at me in astonishment, as if he couldn't believe his eyes. Luckily, he snapped out of it and called an ambulance. All the while I just sat there, staring blankly ahead and wondering what I'd done. If I registered at the hospital dad would have a way to find me. I wouldn't allow him to drag me back to that hell hole, not if there was anything I could do to stop it.

I'd been too drained to do much of anything though, apart from let my instincts take over. I didn't want him to be able to locate me but I'd been slowly dying on the side of the road, and despite that not being worse, I didn't want it to be my fate either.

My mind was clouded over, not allowing for much rational thought, yet one prevailed through all the murkiness. I couldn't give him a lead. If I gave him a single way to find me and I'd have lost the battle.

So when the paramedics found me, and they asked my name, I lied. That's the day I became Maisee Jenners. Petal Grace existed no more.

At the hospital I was forced to finally tell the world about all that had been happening in my house. Soon, the police was called in, but I refused to give out any names, and I was pretty sure they knew I was lying about my own. It didn't matter though, even if there wasn't any Maisee Jenners my age on the system. Even if I didn't have a social security number. They'd never get my real name out of me. I'd rather die.

I didn't want to give out _his_ name either. Years and years of warnings had flooded my mind when I was asked if I wanted to press charges. _You never_ _ **ever**_ _try to put your family in jail. Is that clear brat? Because if you do... Oh, we'll be having a lot of fun then, won't we?_ I'd had trouble putting air into my lungs for endless seconds as the sound of his voice sent shivers down my back. I could still remember the glinting smile he always gave me. It seemed so perfect to anyone who didn't know what he was, but I knew he was a monster, and it was just a slimy facade for his true nature.

It was apparently decided by my psychologist that I needed to get out of the ambience of the hospital, so I was sent to something which she called a "healthy atmosphere". I didn't know what that was. I was sure those places didn't even exist any more.

That's how I found myself on that Sunday morning, the sun practically blinding me. It was such a lovely day – I'd gotten into the habit of noticing small things like that back at the monster's. Without appreciating the beauties of life I would've crumbled long ago. So when the shadow of the house covered my view of the sky and I was finally forced to look at it instead, I almost leapt back in astonishment. It was quite a big house, nestled in by trees, yet the most prominent feature of the whole thing was how homey it was. I couldn't believe I'd missed it when I walked out of the police car. It was amazing.

"Is… Is this it?" I didn't want to get my hopes up. I'd been living in a basement for the past 17 years, I couldn't afford to get my spirits crushed again. The police man didn't hear though, his back stayed turned to me as he led the way to the front steps of the house. The only people who'd been able to hear me since I'd run away had been the psychologist and the doctor. And that was only because they were listening for my soft whispers. To everyone else, it seemed, my voice just drifted away in the wind. Which was beautiful to imagine, but quite painful to live through.

When the police man knocked on the door loudly, a sigh of relief escaped me. This _was_ where I was going. My relief was short lived though, as panic started clawing at my throat at all the possibilities this new house had. For starters, I was meeting new people, and god knew I was awful at that. But, most importantly, what if they realised, just like both my parents, that I was worthless and better to keep around to do the cleaning and cooking? What if I was just imprisoned again? What if… What if they made me do my 'services' again? I couldn't go through all of that again, I'd only just escaped it.

It was too late to run – the door was opening.

 **Hi :)**

 **So, chapter 2's up, i hope you all like it :) Also, I wondering if I could get more feedback for this one so I can know what you think ^.^**

 **I don't know when the next chapter will be up but, if I actually have enough self discipline to get writing it shouldn't be too long.**

 **Bye bye :)**


	3. Chapter 3

"Good morning officer, what can I do for you?" He seemed kind enough, but no one was kind once they noticed how truly repulsive I was. I wasn't good for anything other than doing the house work.

"I've brought in the girl I was talking to you about, Maisee?"

"Oh yes, yes, come in." He motioned for us to enter the threshold. But I couldn't move, my feet felt like they were glued to the porch I was standing on. I didn't want to go in, I wish I could just stay on the run forever. That way, no one would be able to hurt me anymore. The officer didn't notice my hesitance, striding in and expecting me to follow. When I didn't, they both looked at me expectantly. "You coming?" I was saved a reply when a woman stepped up from behind him, flashing me a worried look.

"Don't, Zed. What happened to her was awful, maybe she doesn't feel like coming in just yet. Honey, why don't you go and sit outside for a while, I'll bring you some hot chocolate and a coat in a minute." Only too happy to comply, I stepped away from the entrance and booked it down the small stairs. The ground was covered in a thin layer of frost which glowed white in the sunlight, but I didn't let myself get entranced by nature. Instead, I found myself a fallen branch to sit on, burying my head in my hands soon after so I wouldn't have to see my new house. I was thankful that the woman had been kind enough to see that I was uncomfortable, yet did she really understand the extent of how broken I am? How much I _couldn't_ go in?

"Um… Hi." Quickly removing my hands from my face, my gaze shot upwards where it was met with a guy. I didn't get a chance to look at him though; I was already on my feet and ready to run away. They had probably changed their mind and sent someone to drag me into the house. I didn't want to go in - not before I came to terms that I might never walk out of that place alive. "No, wait, don't be scared, I brought you a blanket." I halted in my escape, shocked by his words. Who was he and why was he even bothering with me? I didn't matter.

"Why?" I don't know why I asked the question. It was just my stupid curiosty bubbling to the surface again. I should've simply run, when you stopped and chatted with monsters, _that's_ when you get hurt. In any case, I thought he wouldn't hear – my back was turned toward him and leaves were rustling in the background – yet somehow he did. He was the first person to answer one of my questions in days. It felt so nice to have someone hear. But I couldn't let myself get lured in by it.

"You looked cold out here. Mom will be out soon with your hot chocolate too, but I thought you could use some company." He was extending the lilac blanket towards me, and as I went to grab it shakily, I stopped in hesitation. Should I grab it? Would he shout at me for it? Sometimes I was beaten for grabbing things that were offered to me because I was supposed to be generous and give it back. Was this a test like that?

The cold shiver that ran its way up my spine made me make up my mind quickly. Even if he did hit me for this afterwards, at least the cold wouldn't be able to seep into my bones. That had only happened once before, and I'd nearly had to go to hospital. The monster beat me for that too.

Luck didn't seem to be on my side though, my foot catching on a piece of ice as I slowly grabbed the blanket. I'd been too focused on judging his reaction to actually be able to keep my balance. I wasn't normally this clumsy whilst in nature - I had a way of just being able to tell where things were - although civilisation was a whole different matter all together. Maybe it was because I was talking to the cute boy, that must be it.

"Owie." The soft murmur left my lips as I tried to collect myself. I was stopped by a hand, it was reaching out but I didn't understand why.

"Here, let me help you up." I let my eyes drift up to his face for the first time, and then back down to his hand. No one had ever lifted me up off the ground. Normally I was just screamed at for being clumsy. Which, in a house, I was. I couldn't let him touch me though, scrambling up to a standing position on my own instead.

His kind brown eyes followed me all the way. He was gorgeous. That was probably just another mind trick they'd play on me. I certainly hoped not. At least during these 17 years the monsters hadn't messed with my heart. They'd never led me to believe that anyone could love me. They'd made it all very clear. Yet these people were being nice and offering me hot chocolates with soft blankets. How long would it take them to turn on me and hurt me once more?

"You ok?"

"Y-yeah." Finally taking the blanket from him, I looked up for what would hopefully be the last time. As we made eye contact, he pulled in a ragged breath. His brown hair falling into his eyes as he shook his head, probably trying to clear out the image of my ghostly-looking gaze. While he did this, I couldn't help but admire how cute he really was. It'd make this so much easier if he weren't.

"Do you want me to sit with you?" I hadn't even wrapped myself in the blanket yet. I was afraid to do so in front of him. Maybe he'd take it away for being rude and being warm whilst he wasn't.

"Then _you'll_ be cold." It wasn't that I cared about his well-being. In my old house, I was supposed to think about his needs before my own. His hunger came first, just like his breakfast. His body warmth came first too – he always got the duvet and the blankets during winter time. He always, always, came first. Because I was too disgusting to be anything but last.

"Oh, don't worry about me, I'm used to the cold up here in the mountains." I was surprised that he'd refused the offer to go back in and pretend this conversation never happened. In fact, I was so shocked that all I could do was shrug and sit back down on the log. He joined me, but I couldn't force myself to start up another conversation. After a while, he spoke up again. "Don't you have a coat?"

Not bothering with a reply, I just shook my head.

"And any clothes warmer than that? You'll get cold really fast up here." Once again, I shook my head. He'd be in for a shock when he found that I didn't even have any other clothes apart from this old sweater and my faded jeans. I only had them and my imitation converse because the monster knew it'd be suspicious if I showed up at school in nothing but socks and a t-shirt. "Hm… Mom might want to go out shopping with you then. She's the one who told you to stay out here if you wanted."

"She was nice."

"She is. If she does take you shopping though, and she takes my grandma along, beware. Karla, my grandma, is an unstoppable force of nature when she sees something she likes." At that, I left out a soft laugh, even though I didn't really feel like expressing my non-existent joy. Luckily, the woman from before came then, carrying a steaming mug in her hand, saving me from having to actually make a proper response to his statement. She looked so warm and motherly, just like my mum should've been. Just standing near her made the urge to trust her unbearable. It was people like her that I had to look out for.

"I heard something about grandma's shopping?" She shot the boy a reprimanding look, but before she could scold him for what he'd done, I stood in front of him. From what I'd seen so far, this family was a lot more normal and dynamic than mine had been, I didn't want to shatter all of that. It was my fault that he'd made the joke in the first place, he'd just been trying to cheer me up. I always mess everything up.

"No, it… it wasn't his fault. If you're going to hurt someone, hurt me." At my final word, I hung my head low. I didn't want to see the expression that crossed her face when she decided she'd rather hit worthless little ol' me than her son.

"-What?"

 **Hi :)**

 **I just want to say one thing: Oh my god guys. Seriously, oh my god. Thank you so much for all of your reviews, especially to the Guests, who i couldn't send a PM to in thanks. But, yeah, I didn't expect to get that much of a positive reaction, you're the best :)**

 **Also, I just wanted to tell you guys how the family works. So Sky and Zed have had 6 children: Vince and Max who are 5 year old twins, Blake aged 13, Alex and Marcus who are both 15, and obviously Gray (who's 17). So that's the whole family, who you'll probably get to see next chapter. Hopefully it won't take me too long to write it :D**

 **Bye bye :)**


	4. Chapter 4

"What?" The word left her mouth in a soft exhale of shock as I moved my gaze upward to see what had surprised her. But she was looking at _me_. In utter consternation, as she stepped back a couple of steps.

"I- I'm sorry if that was the wrong thing to say."

"No, honey, that's not it at all. I just… Here, why don't I take you up to your bedroom so you can get warmed up while I talk to Zed about what school you're going to?" I recognised that tone. She was lying. She wasn't going to discuss anything with Zed that wasn't how to move me out immediately. I wouldn't be mad at her either. What I'd said had clearly upset her, and I wasn't important enough to be able to upset others. _They_ hurt me. Not the other way around. That was just the natural order of things.

Putting a hand on my elbow, she led the way to my bedroom. This time, I was too in despair over getting myself kicked out of the house so soon that I didn't even fight back. I wouldn't spend much time in this house anyway so what was the point of not going in to see it at least? We arrived at an empty bedroom, with pretty flower wallpaper and a bed and desk to match. It even had a small fireplace on one of the walls. It probably wasn't my room, but she wouldn't want me kicking up a fuss about a bedroom which I'd soon be thrown out of. That was the only logical explanation for why I hadn't been stuck in the basement.

"Right. I'll be right back. Gray and I will give you some space to become comfortable with your surroundings." So that was his name. Gray. It suited him, with his wiry frame and seemingly protective nature. I bet he'd do anything for his family. I wouldn't trust him one bit, once he noticed that I was worthless and not even desirable to be around, he'd want me out. Just like everyone always wanted me out. I couldn't let myself be fooled by the fact that he seemed caring – people only cared about their family and friends, and I'd never be considered either.

Even at my old house, where my father and I had the same blood running through our veins, I was never considered family. I was just the extra, the one who should've never happened.

Apart from wallow in my thoughts and misery, I didn't have anything to do. Making my way over to the bed, I sat down on the edge. And I waited.

Gray's POV

 _Family meeting!_ The shout rang clear through all of our heads as mom marched her way to the living room shakily. I knew what she was going to do. She was going to try to figure out a way to fix things, like she always did. But could this even be fixed? I'd never seen a girl as broken as Maisee. Dad was the first one to enter the room after mom and I. Glancing worriedly between us, mom with her worried face and me with my furrowed brow, he must've sensed this would be a long one, making himself comfortable on the couch.

"Baby? What's wrong?"

"That girl we decided to help. Oh Zed she's lived through such a horrific past, I can sense it every time I go near her. And she's so afraid of everything we do. I think she's convinced that we're going to hurt her, just like they did to her in the past." As the rest of my brothers filed in (all of them younger, annoying little brats, unfortunately), a unanimous feeling of shock seemed to take us over.

"But we'd never do such a thing." Max was staring in confusion at mom. He must've heard what she said. "We're here to help, not to make things worse." He was only 5, far too young to understand that not everyone saw things the way we did. That not everyone lived in a household where they were allowed to be happy.

"Maybe I should go talk to her." Mom volunteered, knowing that she was the go-to woman when it came to dealing with people's emotions. Yet the minute she said this, the whole room exploded in an uproar. Dad was shouting that there was no way he'd let his soulfinder near someone unstable. The rest… Well, I wasn't really sure what they were saying. It sounded a lot like reasons why she shouldn't go though. Most were asking for a chance to go see her themselves first. But I stopped them before this could break into an all-out war over who got to try to put a bandage on Maisee's wounds first. Luckily, Max and Vince, who were too young to get what was happening, hadn't tried to talk. That gave me the advantage of only trying to shut up 5 people. Which was still quite a bit. Blake was saying that with his persuasion power he could persuade her to trust us. Which seemed like the worst idea ever, but he didn't see it that way. At 13, he was the most annoying of my brothers. Alex and Marcus on the other hand (15 year old twins) were just shouting for the sake of it, seeming to like the way the room was descending into anarchy at an alarmingly increasing rate.

"Shut up!" I hadn't realised I stood up and yelled for silence until it was too late and everyone was staring at me. Turning slightly red, I decided to keep going with what I'd wanted to say, despite the embarrassment of having shut everyone up. "She's an actual human being guys. You do realise this right? She's been hurt so much and she's still bleeding out. And you know what you're all doing?!" Taking a breath to calm myself down, I continued. A piece of paper had already caught fire on the table. I'd, unfortunately, inherited by uncle Yves' power, and I still had trouble controlling it when my temper flared. "You're all offering her Band-Aids, as if that's going to solve the bloody problem! She's soft and so so delicate and I… I don't understand how anyone could have hurt her. So I'm not going to let any of you try to walk in there and play therapist only to hurt her more.

"I'm not saying I know how to make her feel better. I don't. But at least I'm not being a selfish prick thinking that I am. Just give her some space. Maybe in the morning she'll be more up to conversation." And with that, not bothering to allow any of my family to formulate a reply, I left the room.

As I passed Maisee's door, I remembered her rosy cheeks from the cold, and her soft "owie" as she landed in the ice. She was too cute and adorable to be hurt. Whoever had done this must've been a true asshole. A monster. She didn't even have any clothes. I hadn't missed that hint when I'd asked her about winter clothing. Who could've been this cruel to such a defenceless creature?

I wished I could do my little bit to make her feel a slightly better. I was about to pass the closed door completely when a thought occurred to me. It was ridiculously dangerous, but I was willing to try. So crouching by the door and focusing all of my energy on the inside of the bedroom, I found what I was looking for.

A soft gasp was heard when the fireplace lit, and I smiled, proud that I hadn't burnt the house down in the process of trying to make her a little bit happier. Hopefully she'd think we had automatic fireplaces or something stupid like that. By the time she opened the door to see if there was anyone outside, I was already in my bedroom, smiling despite myself. Even if this was the only thing I could do for now, it'd be enough.

I didn't want to impose, to seem like I was trying to force her be believe we weren't hurting her. But for some reason, I _did_ want her to trust me when I told her that I wouldn't let anyone hurt her again. Because I wouldn't – I'd be damned before I let anyone lay a finger on her. Still unsure about why, I let that thought drift through my mind as I fell asleep.

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 **Wow guys, once again thank you so much for all the reviews. They make me feel so damn happy :)**

 **Anyway, I hope you all liked this chapter, and I'm sorry if it took a while to write, I've been doing a lot of history coursework - you would not believe how long that stupid thing take to complete. But I hope it turned out alright :)**

 **Bye bye =^.^=**


	5. Chapter 5

Petal's POV

That morning, I woke up at 4 am, unable to sleep. Tear ducts were still present on my cheeks, clueing me in on the fact that I must've relived the nightmare again. As I stumbled my way down the stairs blearily, I wondered why my mind was so focused on that night from so long ago. Even now that I was away from the monster it kept replaying like a broken record. I wish it'd just stop.

Trying to forget all thoughts of a rainy night and a shattered past, I got to work, taking out a pan. This was what I was good at, just as long as I did this and didn't think, everything would be ok.

2 hours later, I'd cleaned the whole of the bottom floor and made both breakfast _and_ lunch, a new personal record. I didn't know when the people in this house liked waking up so I didn't want to risk being late. If I got told off for the food being cold, that'd always be better than getting hit for there being no food at all.

I didn't want to sit around and wait for them to come and scream at me though, so grabbing the smallest slice of bread I could, I left the house, making my way towards the forest. I always enjoyed spending time with nature. The large trees drowned out the humdrum of the road and civilisation, allowing me to just be surrounding by the buzz that nature created. In this forest everything was so _alive_. Back in the park where I used to go to clear my head, there weren't that many trees, just a lot of screaming kids, which I, for obvious reasons, didn't appreciate. Here however, all I could hear for miles around were chirping birds and the rustling of leaves. Of course, there was also the crunching of the frost under my beaten up converse, but I chose to ignore that.

Humans were bad. That's why I hid away in the forest. Here there was no one to judge, and certainly no one to destroy the imperfect silence.

I was going to return, don't get me wrong, but I just wanted to forget for a few hours that my destination was in the opposite direction, rather the one I was going in. And for a while, I could. That all changed though when the sun started climbing over the tips of the trees, and shouting started to be heard in the distance.

"Maisee? Maisee where are you? We won't hurt you, we promise! We just want to help! Maisee? Maisee?" It continued like that for a while. Knowing I wouldn't be able to keep running from my problem for any longer, I sat myself down with my back against a tree. Bark dug into my back but I didn't mind. With my senses tuned into the tree and the shouting completely forgotten, I could relax once more.

"Guys, I found her! Maisee, what are you even doing?" Opening my eyes drowsily, I forced myself to step away from the relaxing nature and back towards the horrible civilisation.

"I was just going for a walk." I tried to say it as innocently as possible so the beating would be kept to a minimum, but I could see Gray's jaw clenching. Why did he, out of the rest of the family, have to be the one to find me? If it were anyone else I would've been able to disconnect again so that they wouldn't be able to hurt me as much. But with him, it was like he rooted me to the real world, not allowing me to escape even when I was begging for it.

"For 4 hours?!" He looked really mad. This was the effect I had on people, I caused them grief and anger until the point where all they wanted was to put their hands around my neck and squeeze. Slowly drain the life out of me, enjoying every second of it. The monster had described that feeling to me on more than a couple of occasions.

"I lost track of time."

"Don't you have a watch? Or a phone? Or anything? Maisee you really scared us, we thought you ran away." The only way I'd had to tell the time back home was to look at the old beaten up alarm clock on the floor by my bed.

"I don't have anything, no. I'm sorry." He still appeared to be angry at me, so I got up and away from the tree. I didn't dare look him in the eye, the monster said that was disrespectful, and slowly I went on my knees. "I'm really sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Oh god please don't hurt me I'm so sorry." By the end of it I was crying. I thought that I'd ruined everything last night, but it seemed they'd let me stay. Now I had to go ahead and screw everything up again as if they hadn't already been charitable enough. I was such a mess, I didn't deserve to belong to this perfect family.

"Wait, what are you doing?" Keeping my head down still, I begged one last time.

"I didn't mean to go away for so long. I'm sorry. So sorry."

"Maisee, I'm not mad, I was just worried. I mean, I saw how scared you are of us and I feared you'd run away. After how you almost died escaping the first time I didn't want that to happen to you again." Then, he reached out a hand, putting it right in front of me so it was in my line of vision. "Please get up, I promise mom and dad won't be mad either. None of us will be."

"I… Ok." I was close to saying 'I don't trust you', but that would've gotten me killed in the monster's house so I decided not to risk it. I didn't take his hand though, I didn't want to touch any males any time soon. Not until the monster's filth had been permanently washed off of me. Sometimes I saw my hands streaked with mud and grime and wiped as hard as I could, yet it didn't come off. What he'd done to me, all the scars he'd left, it'd never come off.

"Come on, the house is this way." He didn't seem offended by my choice, something for which I was glad. I didn't want to have to get beaten for something I had no control over.

He had a good sense of direction, being able to take me all the way back to the house without a stumble in his step or a doubt about the way we were going. I was happy for that too, that way I could enjoy my last minutes with nature without having to focus all my energy on finding my way back. I was hopeless with directions, so I couldn't even imagine how bad it'd be if I had to make my way through this dense forest alone.

That's not to say that I was glad for his company though, I'd much rather get lost than have someone taint the forest. Even if I'd ruined it, at least I went to appreciate it, Gray was making such a racket that any birds near us had all already flown away.

When I started sensing we were getting close to the house, I'd finally had enough.

"C-can you please be quieter?"

"Huh?" He spun around to look at me in confusion, causing another flock of birds to swarm off. I wish he'd just stop, I loved hearing the small sounds of nature, but now all I could hear were his loud footsteps as he crunched nature under the souls of his shoes.

"I like listen to nature and…" This was such a horrible idea. Why had I spoken up? I hadn't done that in so long, I'd been able to bite my tongue and be a good girl. But now, why now?

"Keep going." He was encouraging me. He was telling me to give him an order despite being too much of a lowly human being. Why? I… I didn't understand.

"No i-it's nothing. Just- Nothing."

"But I want to know what you were going to tell me. It sounded interesting." I had a lot to lose in this situation. If I said no, refusing could get me hurting. If I said yes and I sounded too demanding in my choice of words, that could equally get me hurt. I had to pick between two evils, but there wasn't a lesser. Deciding that I might as well voice my opinion, I pointed at the tips of the trees which could be seen through the undergrowth.

"Look. Now that we're quiet and still, the birds are coming back." I was silent for a couple of seconds as I chose my next words carefully. "Listen. When you're not talking you can hear the birds chirping and the leaves rustling and the…" I stopped as something caught my attention. Quickly closing I leaned towards my left. When I spoke up again, my voice was practically not there. "And the soft tapping of paws against the frost of the ground. I think it's a fox." I kept my eyes closed, afraid that I'd spoken too much and he was angry now. Yet I couldn't force myself to un-tune myself. Once I started hearing, I couldn't stop.

"How can you do that?" When I heard his voice, it was like a spell being shattered, at the same time a greater one being cast. My eyes flew open, and there with hair being ruffled by the wind and gaze furtive in wonder, was Gray. I'd never seen a human being look more entrancing than he did then, with his eyes alight. Leaves and soft snowflakes were billowing around him as he stood there in shock. He looked like he _saw_. Like he understood all that I'd given him.

"I- I don't know." It took a couple of tries to find my voice again. I never would've thought that I'd want another person with me whilst in the forest. Now that Gray saw what I did, I couldn't help but be bewitched by him.

"No, it's not just that. It isn't that _you_ see, it's that you made _me_ see." He was coming closer. And with how gorgeous he was, I couldn't force myself to step away. I shouldn't be doing this, I needed to snap out of it. It was like he'd put me under a spell of some sort. All I could see was him.

"Well, I explained, that's all." Would he be angry? I thought he liked the new outlook I'd provided, but now he seemed bewildered, rather than overjoyed. Had I messed up _again_?

"I've never seen anything like it. I mean I've had other people try to explain nature to me before but this was…" He'd started pacing when suddenly he just stopped, pinning me down with his gorgeous brown eyes. I shouldn't be thinking of him this way, yet… It was like nature, once I started, I couldn't stop. "It was like a _gift_."

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 **Longest chapter yet! I'm also really excited about this chapter cause it gives the first insight into Petal's gift *hint* *hint* *nudge* *nudge***

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	6. Chapter 6

"That's-"

"You mentioned a fox earlier, right?" Afraid to argue while he appeared so confused, I simply nodded. What was I even doing talking to him? I shouldn't have let him find me, I knew I was more susceptible to speaking up whilst surrounded by trees. "Can you find it for me?"

"I… I guess. Y-you just need to be very quiet."

"Deal." I closed my eyes once more, letting my instincts take over completely. I was useless at finding my way back to places I'd come from, but discovering new adventures, that was my speciality. I didn't know if he was following or not, all my senses were tuned in to the sound of claws scraping against a thin layer of ice. I could already see it in my mind, the delicate figure of the fox, gliding silently across the forest in search of its next pray. Its eyes locking on us, scared as it glanced around, unknowing that we didn't mean it any harm. And then, all that was left were paw prints, as it took off towards the next hideout, in fear of becoming the meal itself.

When we found it, I wasn't surprised to discover that that's what actually happened. I had a knack for understanding animals.

"I need to get you back home now."

"No, please don't hurt me, I'm sorry!" Once again, he was shocked at my remark. When was he going to discover that I didn't trust him or his family? No matter how many times he promised, I knew that all it took was one word, one action, to get someone in the place where morals don't affect decisions and promises cease to matter. And god knew I was all too good at getting people there.

"I just want to show them this ability that you have. It's incredible. In fact, a little bit too incredible." He practically had to drag me back. I was begging and pleading the whole way, but instead of just getting the pain done and over with, he kept trying to reassure me.

As if that would fix the problem.

Gray's POV

My eyes opened blearily, a ray of sunshine bypassing the closed curtains blinding me for a couple of seconds. The first thing I realised was that it was early, too early, or at least that's what my tired mind was trying to convey. The second was that it smelt of scrambled eggs, and mum couldn't cook for the life of her. None of my brothers were allowed to cook and if my dad had been cooking I would've been woken up by the fire alarm, rather than a delicious smell. Which left no one who could've possibly cooked that meal.

Or, at least, no one my drowsy brain could recall.

I made my way down the stairs in a stupor, still too exhausted to really be curious about the food. The table was all laid out when I got to the kitchen, but there wasn't anyone eating, and the cutlery was untouched. Who would've cooked a meal only to leave before they could enjoy it? Slowly, an image of a shy, skittish (but admittedly beautiful) girl seeped into my mind. She wouldn't have done, surely? Then again, that seemed like something an abusive parent would make their child do, so it would make sense if she thought that we'd want her to cook.

Except we weren't like her parents at all. We would've never asked her to do that. But she didn't know that though, did she?

Turning around slowly on my heel, I went back upstairs, planning on dragging her downstairs to force her to eat something. I'd try to be nice but, if I was being honest, I'd much rather she eat, even if she ended up mad at me.

The second I was stood in front of her door though, I knew she wasn't there. Having my uncle Yves' ability, I was able to make the energy inside of things turn into heat energy which in turn made a fire. But there was no energy inside that room apart from that of the fireplace, which had died out long ago. A sinking feeling in my stomach removed all hope of finding her in the house, so I ran to mom and dad's room, shouting all the way.

I didn't care if I looked crazy. Last time Maisee had run away she'd almost gotten herself killed. Not that she didn't have more than enough reason to want to high tail out of that house, but there was no reason to do that now.

"Gray? Honey what's wrong?" Mom was half asleep, rubbing her eyes tiredly. Dad on the other hand had been trained in the savant lifestyle, immediately jumping out of bed and putting a shirt on. All the while, he was looking through my head, tossing memories here and there in a fervent search of what the problem was. It hurt, I wasn't going to lie, but it would be easier than me trying to explain. Once he got what he wanted, he was already at the door, sending telepathic messages to the whole family and organising a full scale pursuit.

By that point, mom had already seen how distressed my aura (as she called them) was. Mom was incredibly sensitive to people's emotions, to the point where she could see them in a halo of light. That's how she immediately knew that something was very wrong. It just wasn't wrong in the way she was imagining it. No, there wasn't anyone breaking into the house. No, there was virtually no threat to our family. So I didn't know why I was freaking out so much, but Maisee's clumsy trip kept playing over in my head. What if she fell and hurt herself?

What if she was attacked by a wild animal? Or a crazy savant, like what happened to mom and dad? It was no emergency per se, but it definitely _felt_ like one.

2 hours later found all of us spread across the forest. Searching, apparently futilely as none of us had found any trace of her yet. Damn that girl could hide. A part of me was glad about that because if that was the case, she'd be less susceptible to any attacks, but, then again, it also meant that we'd basically wasted the whole morning with no results to be seen.

Dad was close to calling the search off, in favour of calling for a savant whose gift was to find people, when I finally found her, curled up at the base of a tree. If I hadn't looked twice, I would've missed her. Her cream coloured sweatshirt didn't stand out remarkably against the tree bark, yet that wasn't it, it was like she just _belonged_. I would've cast a glance at her and thought "yeah, just another bit of the forest, better move on and keep looking"

"Guys, I found her! Maisee, what are you even doing?" She quietly blinked up at me, appearing to be confused for a second, as if she didn't even remember that she belonged with us, the rest of the human race. I couldn't blame her, when I first found her, I'd doubted that too.

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 **Ok so this was a little bit of a recap of last chapter (which will continue onto chapter 7). Sorry 'bout that. But you got to see how Gray sees Petal so that's always a bonus.**

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	7. Chapter 7

"I was just going for a walk." Her innocently sweet voice drifted up to my ears. It was hard hearing what she was saying, she was always so quiet and so meek, kind of like a mouse. I bet that asshole had done that to her too, made her silent to the point where her opinions wouldn't be heard by the rest of the world. Unconsciously, my jaw tightened, revealing my anger to a seemingly frightened Maisee. Did she think it was directed at her?

I was digressing. Trying to remember what she'd said to me, I finally remembered, making an appropriate question about something I didn't even care about anymore. We'd found her, that was all that mattered.

"For 4 hours?" I was trying to tone down my anger from my thought before, but it was getting increasingly difficult, especially when she pressed herself further into the tree, looking like she'd rather disappear within it than staying in real life.

"I lost track of time." For the second time since I'd met her, I got lost in her eyes for a second. Her icy blue eyes gleamed in the sunlight. They had so much depth, every single little thought being too complicated for me to even attempt to understand. It served to snap me out of the stupid anger from before too. I shouldn't be thinking about that asshole if it scared her more, I should be actually thinking of her feelings. God, what was I even doing?

"Don't you have a watch? Or a phone? Or anything? Maisee you really scared us, we thought you ran away." She didn't even have to reply to my questions; I already knew what she was going to say.

"I don't have anything, no. I'm sorry." I'd promised myself I'd try to calm down for her sake, but it was getting increasingly difficult. If that asshole hadn't given her a coat, I highly doubted he'd worry about giving her commodities like phones and watches. It made me so mad, knowing she'd never be able to remember living a normal life as a kid all because of _him_. "I'm really sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Oh god please don't hurt me I'm so sorry." She had stepped away from the tree now, slowly making her way towards me with sauntering steps. She seemed zombie-like, no longer in control of her actions and just letting instinct take over. The tears which had been reflecting in the sunlight before were now freely cascading down her marred cheeks as she leaned down once again. She was… Kneeling in front of me.

No, oh god, no. She couldn't think I was like that asshole who'd called himself her dad. I couldn't. This was all so messed up. I'd screwed up without even realising and now it was too late.

"Wait, what are you doing?"

"I didn't mean to go away for so long. I'm sorry. So sorry." She was keeping eye-contact to a minimum, refusing to look up at me as she blubbered around her tears. A new surge of anger went through me at the thought that he'd done this to her, but I repressed it much easier, now that I had a reminder, written in her tears.

"Maisee, I'm not mad, I was just worried. I mean, I saw how scared you are of us and I feared you'd run away. After how you almost died escaping the first time I didn't want that to happen to you again. Please get up, I promise mom and dad won't be mad either. None of us will be." I wanted to hold her, hug her until all the pain went away. But seeing how I was pretty much 100% sure she'd freak out if I did that, I just extended my hand for her to get up.

"I… Ok." She got off the ground quickly, without using my hand even though her knees were shaking and ready to buckle. She must have been terrified of me. God I felt so shit. I shouldn't have even found her, if it'd been mom she would've been able to deal with the situation perfectly, always gauging her feelings and putting her needs before her own. Not like me. I'd gone and gotten angry for absolutely no reason and ended up scaring her half to death.

"Come on, the house is this way." I wanted to just get home and have this all done and over with. Maybe once we got there mom would be able to fix the mess I'd created. Although something in the back of my mind told me that the problems I'd just started to gleam were only the beginning.

I walked towards the house quickly, glancing back at her every once in a while. She was so quiet, I couldn't even hear her footsteps as she practically glided her way across the landscape. I'd been right before: it _was_ like she completely belonged. Every time I looked at her, I couldn't imagine her in any other place than here.

"C-can you please be quieter?" Surprised to have the silence disrupted by anything other than my footfalls, I turned around.

"Huh?" A flock of birds flew over us, making her glance up in pure and utter sadness. Was she still afraid of me? Did she need me to be quieter so she could compose herself again? Because she could ask me to do anything, _anything_ , and I'd do it, if only to make it up to her for all I'd done.

"I like listen to nature and…" Half-way through, she backed out of continuing her sentence, despite the fact that I hadn't actually done anything to stop her. I wanted to listen to what she had to say though, she was such an interesting person. So much that at some points I wanted to sit her down and just beg her to tell me what she was thinking. I'd never come this close to actually doing it.

"Keep going." She was surprised by my words, that much I could tell. Did she never have anyone to encourage her to keep explaining her ideas?

"No i-it's nothing. Just- Nothing." But it wasn't though, was it? I'd seen how alive she looked when she asked me to be a little bit quieter. She was finally expressing her true opinion. Why would she back out of that? It might seem to her like it was nothing, but it wasn't to me, and it shouldn't be to her either. How we see the world is one of the most beautiful things that humans have about them, and I liked hearing others'. I'd certainly love to be able to understand hers.

"But I want to know what you were going to tell me. It sounded interesting." She paused for a second, ultimately making up her mind.

"Look. Now that we're quiet and still, the birds are coming back. Listen. When you're not talking you can hear the birds chirping" Whilst she talked, a wave of energy flooded through me, silencing everything about me. My breathing, the sound of my feet making crunching sounds on the floor, even my heartbeat had been stilled by the magic. And then… Everything came alive somehow, even though I was no longer in my body. Trees buzzed to life, the chirping of birds being augmented in the background. Everything was just _more_. What was happening? "and the leaves rustling and the…" The sound of her life brought me back to reality as she closed her eyes and leaned delicately to the right. Was this how she saw things every day? It was beautiful. No, it was more than that, it was _magical_. "And the soft tapping of paws against the frost of the ground. I think it's a fox."

"How can you do that?" At the sound of my voice, the fairy dust which had clouded my judgment, fell apart. No longer could I hear and see and _feel_ the forest. But I could lay my eyes on her. A massive gust of wind ruffled both of our hair, and as she went to remove it from her line of vision, I couldn't help but be entranced once more. No one had ever had this effect on me before but she was truly beautiful, in the way that you can't just see but also instinctually feel. It was in every fibre of my being.

"I- I don't know." We both seemed to snap out of a dream we'd been put into when she next spoke up. Luckily enough, that gave me time to finally clear my head and decide what was going on. Her ability was uncannily like a savant's. It wasn't anyone's I'd ever met but it was too spectacular to be anything _but_ a gift. She had an extra shift, that was for sure, no one could've made me see nature like that. All of my senses were multiplied for just that one second, no amount of explanation could have done that.

"No, it's not just that. It isn't that _you_ see, it's that you made _me_ see." I took an involuntary step closer. I needed to see her do that again without being under her spell. Then I'd be able to see if she was putting any savant energy into doing that. Being able to see forces, I should be able to tell what she's doing.

"Well, I explained, that's all." No, that wasn't it, that wasn't it at all.

"I've never seen anything like it. I mean I've had other people try to explain nature to me before but this was… It was like a _gift_."

"That's-" Suddenly, I had an idea.

"You mentioned a fox earlier, right? Can you find it for me?" This was it. If she tracked it using a savant power, I'd know. In that moment, I promised myself that if I saw no indication of her being a savant, I'd leave her alone. She was already broken enough without needing me to be around her and shatter her more. I'd been too good at that lately.

"I… I guess. Y-you just need to be very quiet."

"Deal." Slowly, her eyes closed of their own accord. And a fine mist of savant energy formed around her, tugging her in the direction she'd been leaning in when she first discovered the sound of the fox. It was like she wasn't herself anymore. Maisee was clumsy and shy, but this person was confident, travelling across the frost in sure steps. There was never a stumble in her step, and even though her eyes were closed, she navigated her way around trees. Even the smallest of roots were avoided without a doubt.

And suddenly, we were there. A fox shot up from its crouched position. It'd been sniffing around the floor, probably looking for the trace of a smaller animal. When it saw us, it startled, running off as quickly as we had come. That wasn't what I was focusing on though, instead all I saw was the energy surrounding Maisee as it peeled away from her, vanishing like it was never there.

"I need to get you back home now." I'd never been surer of anything in my life – Maisee was a savant. But maybe that wasn't what I should be finding out. The real question was, did she actually know that she was one? With her prior family history which had all been informed to us, I wouldn't be surprised if they'd kept another secret from her. I mean, what was the weight of keeping her from the knowledge that she was a savant when they carried the massive burden of knowing they'd lied their child into thinking she was unworthy?

"No, please don't hurt me, I'm sorry!" One day, I'd kill the asshole who'd done this to her. But I had to vanquish all those thoughts from my mind, I'd already scared her tonight as it was.

"I just want to show them this ability that you have. It's incredible. In fact, a little bit too incredible. It was like a _gift_." After that point, I stayed behind her to ensure she wouldn't just take off without my knowing. Although, without noticing, my footsteps has become substantially lighter, and the soft chirping of birds followed us all the way home. I wondered if she knew that the forest wasn't even half as alive as it was when she was around. I hadn't noticed before due to the ruckus I was accidentally making, but now I noticed that there were way too many animals around to be normal.

During winter most of them hid, but all the animals had come from the whole forest, seemingly gathering around us to provide a symphony for their queen. That was an apt way to put it. Maisee, queen of nature.

It suited her.

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 **So there you have it, Petal's (or Maisee, to be fair even I call her Maisee by this point XD ) savant ability! And thanks to all you reviewers out there who made my day brighter with their comments :)**

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	8. Chapter 8

Petal's POV

At this moment in time, I was huddled into a corner in the living room whilst everyone stood in radio silence around me. They were looking at each other with questioning features, seeming to have a conversation that I could neither hear nor understand.

The minute Gray had taken me to the living room I'd crawled over to this spot. If they were going to hurt me I'd much rather I see them approach me. Since then, no one had spoken a single word, and if I were confident enough to do so, I would've already screamed at them to get it done and over with. Couldn't they see that they were just causing me more pain by waiting?

"Maisee, you're a savant." Gray was the one to finally speak up, although it did nothing to settle my turbulent mind. What did that mean? Was it a new insult that they'd come up for me? I'd have to tell them not to bother, worthless suited me just fine.

"Huh, never heard that one before." I mumbled that under my breath, hoping none of them had caught what I'd said, and then readying myself to reply to his statement. Back at the old house, if I didn't answer, I was beaten. "W-what's that?"

"It means you have… special abilities. An extra boost in your genetics which allow you to do something the rest of the world can't." If they were going to hurt me, the least they could do was do it now, instead of just prolonging this whole stupid thing. They were trying to get my hopes up only to crush them, I knew how that worked. It was efficient – incredibly painful for me to bear. Swallowing down tears, I shakily stood to my feet. There, I swayed for a couple of seconds preparing myself for what I was about to do.

"Pleas i-if you're going to beat me, don't bother with a-all the psychological c-crap. Don't get my hopes up with preposterous fantasy. Just hurt me already!" By the end I was still glaring at the floor, praying that I wouldn't have to make eye-contact with any of them. Tears accumulated in my eyes at the thought of what I was doing, what I was asking them to do, but I didn't let it deter me. They'd waited long enough and the excruciating calm before the storm was slowly killing me inside. "I know you're going to end up doing this to me. Humans are bad, we're all bad. So don't try to lie to me and tell me you're good – I know the t-truth."

"Maisee we'd never hurt you. We're here to help honey." Sky's melodic voice reached my ears, making me snap once and for all.

"I told you not to do that!" My head snapped upwards, making my gaze meet with that of Gray's, then Sky, and finally Zed. "Stop lying! At least back at the monster's house it was very clear. No one loves me, no one ever could. I'm worthless ok? S-stop acting like I'm not."

"Wait, Maisee, we're not lying, you truly are a Savant and you're certainly not worthless. Please, listen to me." I was already making my way to the door, trying to go around them all so I was never too close to any of them. I'd escaped this without a beating by a miracle, I didn't want to push my luck. Even if the wait _was_ killing me, I'd rather have that be my demise than a well-aimed punch to the head. All I asked was for them to not get my hopes up – to stop with the magical bull and the "we're here to help" crap. Couldn't they just hurt me already?

 _Can't you hear me in your head?_ A soft voice slowly entered my mind, making my eyes widen. An explosion of colour burst behind my eyelids, but I tried to ignore it as I turned around back to Gray. This couldn't be possible. I had to be imagining it. The hope was screwing with my head. Hope was bad, all hope led to was pain and despair. I had to get it out. Get it out _now_.

"No! Stop! Get it out! Get the hope out! Out! Out!" I was pulling at my hair, slowly sinking to the floor as my mind descended into chaos. I was hallucinating because of this family and their stupid mind games. I needed to get out before they could hurt me. They'd already given me too much hope.

"So you did hear me?" He took a step towards me, looking worried for some reason, but another painful sob erupting from my chest stopped him in his tracks.

"No. No, I'm imagining it and the hope's messing with my head. Get it out! Get it out _now!_ Please… Please…" My sobs had become quieter now, my words becoming pleas and begs rather than orders. The Benedict stood in silence, facing me with sombre expressions, Sky looking the worst.

 _Maisee? Please listen to us, you're not imagining it, I promise."_

"I said _stop_!" With the voice returning to my head, an even louder wail overtook my body. I was going crazy, hearing things in my head. Hearing Gray for some reason.

"Why don't we give her a break? I think she's had enough for one day." Sky, ever the carer, came to help me off the floor and away from the pain and anguish, but little did she know that she was part of it too. So slinking away from her extended hand, I scooted back into my corner, where they wouldn't be able to get to me from behind.

"Wait, mom, please, I'm just trying to make her understand that she has this amazing gift-"

 _No!_

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 **This chapter was really fun to write, which I guess isn't good cause it was about Maisee having a freak out XD Anyhowses, thanks a bunch to those who reviewed, you all deserve hugs and cookies. But I don't have any so you'll just have to get virtual ones :/**

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	9. Chapter 9

_No!_ I wasn't sure if I'd spoken the word, because my lips hadn't moved and no air had left my throat, but for two seconds, everything stilled, a window smashing breaking the calm.

Birds flocked into the room, swarming around all of us but leaving me intact. They provided the distraction I needed to escape. Deliberately slowly, I got down on all fours and started crawling my way to where I remembered the door to be. The birds for some reason parted where I went, but I decided not to question my good fortune, simply continuing on my way. When I finally got out, I sprinted for the door.

I didn't feel like running away again though. They hadn't done anything wrong per se. I mean, the mental torture hadn't begun yet. I should leave before they could start it but something in my chest didn't allow me to just run away again. So sitting down on the log where this whole misadventure began, I took a deep breath, prepared for all the hell that would soon ensue.

Gray's POV

 _No!_ That was the first time I'd ever heard Maisee's voice sound powerful. So much that it took me a couple of beats to realise that she hadn't even spoken them. But when I did come to that conclusion, my mind finally caught up with my heart, which had been beating erratically in my chest since I heard her in my head. It was _her._ The reason why I existed. The reason why anything mattered.

I know I was supposed to see fireworks or a dozen other lights, but instead I saw a forest, looking just like Maisee had shown it to me. How I'd seen life before seemed meek and irrelevant. I only saw it all properly now that I had her with me.

It all made sense. How ridiculously attractive I found her, how much I wanted her to be with me always. That stupid urge to protect her since the first moment we met.

It was because we were soulfinders. We were meant for one another.

I wasn't left alone with my thoughts for very long though, as a swarm of birds had entered the room through the window, hailing down on us. I was willing to bet a couple hundred bucks that Maisee had caused this subconsciously. I should be mad at her for bringing birds from hell to attack us but, instead, I just felt a swelling pride. She was already so powerful, without even being aware of her abilities. It was amazing.

Scanning the energy of the room, I wasn't sure if I'd be able to find her, but because she'd called in all the birds she still had a lot of savant energy surrounding her. She was crawling towards the door. Making a quick decision to let her go and deal with my family, I watched her force of energy make its way around the corner, fading away as it went further. Somehow, without it, I felt empty. Forcing those thoughts away though, I regained my composure from finding out that amazingly kind and gorgeous girl was my soulfinder, deciding to start the damage control.

"Guys! Listen! Don't hurt any of the birds, alright?" I shouted over the ruckus of the birds. I wasn't sure if mom and dad had heard, but that was soon solved when I was answered through telepathy. In retrospect, I really should have thought of that. To be fair though I had just found my soulfinder so I was allowed to be a bit ditzy.

God that had sounded good. I had _found_ my soulfinder. And without auntie Crystal's help and everything.

 _Why not Gray? They're_ attacking _my face._ Dad replied, but I was thinking about something else. Something a lot more important. _Gray?_

 _Oh, right. Um I don't have a reason that I can say right now but just trust me on this._

 _Will they go on a killing spree if I hurt them?_

 _Well, um,_ no _._

 _Then why in hell's sake am I not allowed-_ Mom cut dad off before he could go into an even bigger rant about how his own son was letting him be mauled by birds. He was exaggerating anyway, I'd only gotten pecked at once.

 _This is Maisee's ability, isn't it? That's why Gray doesn't want us to hurt the birds, in case it hurts her too._

"Because he's an actual considerate human being." Mom's teasing voice rose above the noise the flock of birds were creating, much like mine had done before. We needed to fix this and fast. Arguing about our peril was getting us nowhere.

 _I'll go find Maisee, see what she can do about the mess._ Dad's message reached my mind, making me panic momentarily. I wanted to give her some space but if dad was going to talk to her now, it'd be even worse. Surely, having to speak with her soulfinder (I did another mental dance at the word) wouldn't be as bad as having to talk to dad, who was 6'4" and used to be a biker. Lesser of two evils, I guess.

 _No, wait, I'll go, it's fine._

 _Are you sure?_

 _Yup._ Without letting him talk me out of it, I batted my arms a couple of times to try to clear a path for myself. Maisee had crawled out easily but, then again, she'd also had the birds on her side. After a couple of attempts, I finally made it out, running out the door.

I was afraid she'd run away and that by now she was already at the interstate. Luckily, I found her seated at the log where she'd sat yesterday, disproving my earlier thought. A sigh of relief escaped my lips quickly before I could stop it. I'd wanted to be able to be there without her noticing me so that I could properly take in all her beauty, but it seemed that she had ridiculously good hearing, startling when she heard my exhale.

"Gray?" She had dried tear tracks on her cheeks, some of the panic from earlier still covering her features.

"I… Hi." Deciding that I was being too awkward to keep shuffling on my feet, I sat next to her like I did just yesterday. God, it seemed like it was decades ago. "I know you probably don't wanna hear it, but I'm sorry for earlier."

"It's ok." She looked relieved. I didn't understand why though, she didn't know what a soulfinder was yet, so she wouldn't be _that_ happy at me coming crawling back. "I mean, people lie all the time."

"Wait, wait, I'm not apologising for that. I wasn't lying before – I was saying sorry for overwhelming you. I know it's a scary thing to find out about." But I didn't. I'd found my savant ability when I was 4 and even then it hadn't been weird to me. Mum was constantly talking about auras around me and dad had made my toys fly around quite a few times. It had always just been normal to me. So, no, I didn't understand how she was feeling.

I would try damn hard though.

"I… I won't try to keep shoving this down your throat. Just, please look at me?" She'd had her eyes shielded, a waterfall of golden strands hiding her from me. I needed to see her eyes though, I hadn't had a chance to properly look at her since I realised what she was to me. She slowly moved her gaze from the ground over to stare at me.

Time seemed to stop once again, like it always did when she looked at me. I saw a blue sky on a summer day. Warm and fun and just a day of pure lazing around. I saw an ocean, calm, serene, enveloping me with its tranquil waters. And I was drowning in it, falling for a girl I'd barely even talked to. God this was a mess, but it wasn't one I was willing to get out of.

"Maisee?" Tears had accumulated in her eyes, taking me by surprise. Was she scared of me, did she need to back away, was I bringing back memories of all those times when she was beaten? I couldn't even stand the thought of it.

"I don't know if I can believe you. I don't know if I can hope again."

 **Hi :)**

 **Sorry I didn't update on Friday but I was on holiday in Spain and forgot to tell you guys :/ But I loved all of your reviews, they make me so happy =^.^=**

 **Merry (delayed) Christmas and I hope you all had some wonderful holidays! I don't know if I'll be able to update next week either (what with it beingNew Years and everything) so bear with me :) Sorry bout that, but I hope you all enjoyed this chapter!**

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	10. Chapter 10

"I don't know if I can believe you. I don't know if I can hope again." I was so confused, thoughts and ideas swirling around my head too fast, to the point where I couldn't even catch a glimpse of them. _He has to be lying. Super powers don't exist._ Zooming by, another took its place. _But he looks so sincere. And he's the first person to properly look at me in years._ I wanted it all to stop. No, _needed_ all the thoughts to halt in their quick passing.

It was making me dizzy, having to choose whether to trust what he was saying or not. I hadn't trusted in so long. So dizzy, in fact, that by the time I noticed the tears that had accumulated in my eyes it was too late to hide them from him.

My mind was waging an inner battle, one that was driving me insane. And all I could do was stare at the most gorgeous person I'd ever met, close to crying. My heart was begging me to just let him hold me, whilst my mind was telling me to get away from the person who was trying to make me believe magic was real. As if such a preposterous idea even existed.

"Hey, how about I show you something cool?"

"Does this have to do with the magic?" We were both whispering for no reason, our voices not even passing us, just being there for the other person to hear. It was peaceful, a nice change of pace to what I was used to around others. Our hushed voices allowed me to hear every rustle and movement of the animals in the forest around us. I felt completely content. Or at least my heart did.

"If I say yes, will you still let me show you?" I wanted to say no, that there was no way I would let him string on this ploy. But my heart had seemingly taken over, me being in nature urging it on.

"Yes." The only part of him that moved were his eyes, which shifted from my face to the air in front of us. The forest stilled in anticipation of what was going to happen next and, suddenly, heat overtook my vision. A small ball of molten fire swirled in front of me, so close that I could reach out and grasp it. Very slowly it deformed, turning and twisting in on itself until it formed a beautiful flower, glowing bright red.

It contrasted with the forest: hot, red, furious compared to green moss, white frost and gentle rustling. It was spitting in front of us, flames escaping its contained form and drifting in the wind, waiting for their demise. I should've extinguished it, fire belonged in a forest even less than humans did, but I was bewitched by it, unable to look away.

My hands seemed to lift of their own accord, my skin glowing red in the light provided by the fire. They closed around it, without a fear that it might hurt me to do so. I could feel it, shrinking down so that it didn't touch the cage that my hands were forming. Soon, it had all just vanished, as if it had never been there at all. Despite the fact that the beautiful display had ended, my eyes stayed wide open, alight with wonder.

"That was…" I couldn't even find it in me to finish my sentence. There were no words to describe the magnificence of what I'd just seen.

"I think the word you're looking for is magical." I turned faster than I thought I was capable of, staring at Gray in disbelief.

"That was you?"

"Yeah. We can all do telekinesis and telepathy but each savant gets their own special gift. Mine's fire." He said it so nonchalantly as if he was used to saying that. As if he'd been saying that his whole life. Unbeknownst to me, in the instant I made a choice. Clutching my hands to my chest, I took a deep breath, sure I'd regret this for the rest of my life. This wasn't right, this wasn't natural, but it was the only semblance of hope I'd gotten in far too long. It was amazing, this ability of his, and maybe if his was, mine could be too. Maybe I'd be able to climb out of my old shell, stop being a disgrace and worthless, to become something more.

"And… And mine?" He was shocked at my words, unable to answer for a couple of seconds. After he seemed to catch on with me believing him, he spoke up.

"I think yours is nature. I have no idea what you're capable of but with what I've seen so far, you seem pretty damn great." He was trying to raise my spirits even further, I could see that in his eyes, but it successfully did the exact opposite. If my power was nature then that meant I'd brought in those birds from before. They weren't just being nice to me by letting me escape. They… They were _obeying_ me. I wasn't meant to rule others around, nor to make messes like the one I'd created in a matter of seconds.

I wasn't important enough. It wasn't just that though, I hadn't only ordered birds around, I'd also made a massive problem that they had to try to fix because of me.

There was no guarantee that I'd caused it but I could feel it in my chest, pressing down and forcing tears into my eyes once again. I'd hurt them, probably even destroyed their living room in the process. I'd let my emotions take over and look what I'd become – exactly what I'd been fighting against my whole life. A monster. Because monsters hurt others, caused them pain.

"Those birds from before…?" I needed to know, needed to make sure that it had been me before jumping to any conclusions.

"Yeah, isn't that amazing?"

"No. I swarmed birds into your living room. I… I hurt you." He couldn't deny it, he had a small gash on his cheek from where he'd been hit by one of the birds. The truth was staring me straight in the eye. He was practically pleading me with his gaze to not freak out again. But how could I not, when I'd become the thing from my nightmares? I had to fix this. I had to fix this _now_. Focusing all of my conscious, I did what I always did in nature.

I listened.

Birds chirping furiously came to forefront of my mind, their loud rustling being too loud to ignore. I tried shifting them slowly, not trying to impose or force them to do anything. They were part of nature, I didn't belong with them. Humans never did. But for just that split second, I somehow did. Every emotion, every feeling of theirs became mine too.

I didn't know how I was supposed to use that in my favour, simply letting my instincts take over and lead me in what to do. My palms faced upwards, almost in a pleading gesture, as I sent a thought out to every individual creature that had come to protect me from harm. I saw it now – they weren't obeying me, they were here completely of their own free will. They'd sensed how distressed I was and had come to lend a helping hand.

 _Thank you. Thank you so much. But I need you to leave, please. Your help has been much appreciated._ Slowly, all of their attention turned to me. Without even doubting what I'd said, they rushed out of the window, swirling around me once or twice before leaving. It was beautiful, the most majestic action I'd ever seen in my life. It made me want to go down on my knees, thank them again profusely for following my pleas without a question.

It washed away all the negative feelings that had almost taken me over from before. All that was left behind was the peaceful feeling that always came from becoming part of nature, and a calm silence that had settled over both Gray and I.

"I'm really sorry. But I fixed it."

"You didn't just fix it, you… You're absolutely incredible Maisee."

 **Hi :)**

 **Happy new year everyone :) Let's hope that 2016 is a great year full of savants and soulfinders XD**

 **The response to the last chapter was amazing and I love you guys so much ^.^ Your reviews are better than hot chocolate (and that's really saying something cause I** ** _love_** **chocolate). Oh, and to anon, sorry 'bout that, cheesy is my specialty (and the only thing I'm capable of doing) XD**

 **Next Thursday updating will go back to normal (even though I'll be hitting my head against a wall thanks to school -.- )**

 **Bye bye :)**


	11. Chapter 11

"You didn't just fix it, you… You're absolutely incredible Maisee." I hadn't gotten words of praise from anyone in my whole life. It felt odd. I didn't know whether to believe that he was telling the truth or not. A very big part of me wanted to just agree, but the side that had trust issues was finding it harder to place my faith in him. Even after he'd told the truth about the 'magic powers' (which I was trying not to think about too much) my mind was still fighting desperately against my heart.

"I'm not. I caused the mess to begin with."

"You literally _just_ discovered you have this ability and you're already able to control-"

"Please don't say that. I don't _control_ anything, I simply… Encourage, I suppose." That word was despicable, it was what true monsters like my father did. And I'd rather die than be described with it. In fact, I _would_ sooner kill myself than have to use my ability in that way.

"Alright. Well, you've already got nature wrapped around your pinky finger, willing to do anything you ask it for." Glad that he didn't question my abhorrence for the word, I smiled shakily at him, sitting myself back down on the log. It had been such a long day, and I was still avoiding any and all thoughts on the magic. Sure, I'd seen it to be true, with that much proof it would be hard to say otherwise, but my mind still found it hard to believe. Just thinking about it made a headache rise between my brows. "You've had a long day. Why don't you go rest for a little while? There's school tomorrow so we're having an early night anyway."

"Will I be expected to go to that?" As I asked the question, I shifted my eyes away from his face. Whilst I'd been entranced by nature I'd been a little lax on the rules, seemingly forgetting that I wasn't to ask questions. That I wasn't to order people around. That I wasn't even to speak to them. I'd broken every single rule. All because of this boy. What was he doing to me?

"Nah, I think mom and dad will be nice, especially with all you've had to go through today."

"Thank you. I think I'll leave now." I knew he expected me to go to my room, but that would mean bypassing the destroyed living room and his parents, who were probably livid. So instead I turned on my heel, moving further into the forest as fast as my legs would carry me. The silence would help me think. And if all else failed it would at least provide a tranquil ambience for me to forget all of my worries.

Gray's POV

As her small figure retreated into the forest, I couldn't help but admire the way she walked. Even as I strained my ears I couldn't hear her at all, her footsteps light enough to avoid crunching leaves or frost or anything in her way.

All I'd seen her do, it just confirmed my thoughts on her. She truly was the queen of nature. At a single thought from her, all the birds had basically bowed to her command, spiralling away in a beautiful exit for their queen. It was mesmerising to watch, especially while under the influence of her savant ability. It seemed that she was so powerful that whenever she used it, she oozed it to her surroundings, allowing me to see what she experienced daily. I didn't know whether it only affected me because I was her soulfinder or if everyone around her would be able to see, but it was the most fascinating, magnificent thing I'd ever seen in my life.

It made me wish I could live in her shoes for a day, although I was thankful that I got to experience it at all. If I'd never met her, I would've continued living ignorantly, traipsing through the forest without a care in the world. Now though, even when she wasn't with me, I was trying so hard to be able to understand it all. And on the way I was discovering just how stunning the world could be.

That's not even talking about her own beauty – I could go on and on for days about that already.

"Gray? Honey, are you ok? You're kind of gazing off into space." A quick turn of my head revealed that the person that had asked me the question was mom. She was in her fuzzy pyjamas, with the blanket I'd given to Maisee yesterday draped over her shoulders. She must've changed after the search ended.

"Mom… I found her."

 **Hi :)**

 **Sorry about the cliffhanger (but then again I'm not** ** _that_** **sorry haha :P ) and i think you'll all think me possitively evil when you see the next chapter (which I've already started) but... Well, I am evil ;)**

 **Anyway, thank you so much for your reviews, and I guess you're all getting bored of hearing me say this but i love you ot so much, you honestly make my day 10 x better :)**

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	12. Chapter 12

"Mom… I found her."

"Well, yeah, I guess you did." I could see that she thought I was talking about how I found her in the forest a couple hours ago. I didn't know if I wanted to correct her. Surely it would be better to keep it to myself until Maisee understood what I was to her? It was unfair otherwise, that my mom would find out before her. Knowing I wouldn't be able to lie to her, I simply hummed in response, not trusting myself to provide an answer that would keep the truth hidden.

After that, we both stood in silence, no conversation between us really necessary. She must've known that I was worried about something (mainly Maisee) due to the colour of my aura, but she didn't comment on it. I gazed off into the tips of the trees, wondering how I was going to keep going now. I couldn't just spring it on Maisee that we were soulfinders, especially after her rude awakening to the world of savants. She had more than enough on her plate already. But I didn't want to keep her in the dark either, this was her life, I couldn't just hide it from her. We were destined to spend our lives together – how the hell was I supposed to tell her that?

"Right, I'm gonna go back inside, you should probably too. It's kind of cold out here." She rubbed up and down her arms quickly as she marched back inside, not waiting for me to follow her. She could probably tell that my mind was too preoccupied to do much of anything apart from staring off into space. I'd be lying to myself if I said that that was the only reason I was still here – I wanted to wait for Maisee so I could get another chance at talking to her.

After an hour though, I'd more or less given up. I had homework to work on and it seemed like Maisee enjoyed the birds' company more than she did ours. With how scared she was of people, I couldn't really blame her. So I walked back inside, my mind made up to try and focus on my school work. Even still, when I started writing up an English essay, my thoughts kept drifting to the beautiful girl with the lost gaze.

I was trying to focus, I really was, but my mind kept searching for the smallest of excuses to think about other things. The view out of my window reminded me that she was still out there, in the cold and wandering around with no indication on how to get home – that was distraction number one and stayed at the forefront of my thoughts for a good 10 minutes. Distraction number two was the birds chirping in the background: were my family faring well cleaning up the living room? Maybe I should go help them? Distraction number three was Maisee again, but, this time, her doll-like face and light blue eyes, rather than the state of her health. If I kept going like this, I'd never get it done. Shutting the laptop down, I sighed into my hands. At this rate, I'd get a detention tomorrow for sure.

"Oh, Maisee, you're back! God and you're freezing too, here let me go get you a-" I stopped listening to whatever my mom was rambling on about, hurrying down the stairs to make sure she was really home. In fact, I was hurrying so much that when I jumped down the last few steps, I didn't see the blond who stepped in front of my path, crashing into her and sending us both flying.

"Oof." All the air in my lungs seemed to escape all at once as I flipped us over, trying not to get her hurt. If it was my mom, I'd get killed by her later. If it was Maisee, I'd kill myself later. Either situation led to my demise, making me flinch as we rolled across the floor, the soft carpet cushioning our fall.

"Oh my god I am so sorry." I said this without even looking up - I was too afraid to look up and see who it was, but judging by the electricity that was running down my arms, I was willing to bet that it was Maisee. Every part of me felt alive.

"Oh gosh, are you two ok?" Mom's frantic voice was heard. Which meant it _had_ to be Maisee underneath me.

"It's- It's ok." As I heard her soft voice, I realised I was right. Damn it. My gaze met hers. She didn't really look like she was in pain but I started a quick search, wanting to make sure that I hadn't caused her any pain. If I did I'd be willing to kick myself over and over for this.

"Gray, when you both get up, get Maisee some warm clothes alright?" Once again, I didn't bother looking her way, just sent a telepathic 'alright'. My thoughts had been jumbled up by Maisee, and I couldn't even care enough to untangle them.

"Are you sure? Are you hurt?" I think I fired off a couple more questions about her well-being but I wasn't even aware of what I was saying anymore. I was overcome with illogical worry. She wasn't hurt, I could see that, but every fibre of my being was telling me that if I could cause her pain this easily, I wasn't fit to be her soulfinder. I was meant to protect her, not be the thing she needed protection from.

"Gray I'm fine. But could you… Could you maybe get off of me?" That snapped me out of it quickly enough. I'd been so focused on the crash that I hadn't realised I was still lying on top of her, and that her cheeks had reddened considerably. Quickly scrambling to my feet, I offered her a hand up, like I always did. And, again, just like always, she avoided it and got up on her own. If she was this opposed to contact, me staying on her must've been horrible for her. Once more I'd let myself be overwhelmed by emotions caused by her to the point where I ended up hurting her more. I couldn't do anything right.

"Wow Gray, if this is how you get the ladies, I'm not surprised you've never had a girlfriend."

 **Hi :)**

 **So here's the chapter on time - surprisingly enough, considering I've actually been having to do quite a bit of coursework. But that's ok, I love Maisee and Gray too much, I could never abandon them :)**

 **Anyhows, I loved all of your reviews, they put a big smile on my face, no matter how much homework I have XD So I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter too!**

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	13. Chapter 13

"Wow Gray, if this is how you get the ladies, I'm not surprised you've never had a girlfriend."

Blake spoke up from behind me and I had to stifle a groan. Now was really not the best time for her to meet my brothers. She'd probably already gotten the shit scared out of her by me, she didn't need others to come too.

"Shut up Blake, this really isn't any of your business." Unfortunately, my younger brother paid me no heed, instead taking a step closer to Maisee. I could see her tense up from here.

"So this is the girl who's been turning the house upside down. Hm, she's not what I expected her to look like." I went to yank him away from her, tell him to stop before he could in any way hurt her feelings, but my two other brothers beat me to it. It seemed like this was a meet-everyone-whilst-you-most-want-to-run-away fest. Hurray.

"Shut up Blake, you just have a bad taste in girls. I personally think she's gorgeous."

"I personally think so too." Alex and Marcus liked agreeing on things, and right now I really wished they didn't. Or that at least they'd agree on liking her sweater or her shoes rather than her. I was getting ready to tell them all to shut up when I noticed her inching her way towards me. Did that mean she trusted me? No, I couldn't let my feelings get the best of me again, I needed to help her out in fending off my brothers, I couldn't let them continue just to see how much she wanted to rely on me.

"Guys cut it out, she's had a long day-"

"Oh, yeah, I forgot, she's a savant. Does that mean she's off limits cause she has a soulfinder?" My whole body tensed up at Alex's casual use of the word. Couldn't he shut up for more than two minutes? I had to get her out of here, even if it was just to keep her away from that word.

"Which I wouldn't mind, rules are meant to be broken after all." The other twin's statement was quick to follow Alex's question, setting me even more on edge. Of course she was off limits, she was meant to be _mine_. Although ultimately the decision was up to her, I still didn't want her to end up with Alex or Marcus, they were both perverted assholes. And no, that opinion was in no way biased by his earlier statement.

"Um… What's a soulfinder?"

"Doesn't matter babe, I'll be anything you want me to be." He sent her a wink and by that point, I'd had more than enough.

"Look here Marcus you leave her alone alright?" I had gotten a little over excited at the idea of punching the crap out of my brother, somehow ending up chest to chest with him, my hand wrapped around the fabric of his t-shirt. That meant that I couldn't see what Alex was doing though, which apparently in his books meant he could go all out with Maisee. Even though she was sending out very clear hints of discomfort.

"So, what do you say?" At his words I turned around, finding Alex ridiculously close to Maisee, who looked like she was about to have a panic attack.

"No. No, please not again, no." She was basically quaking in her shoes as we all stopped what we were doing to stare at her in shock. The twins both took an automatic step back as if the tears gathering in her eyes could burn them. My hand went limp, letting go of Marcus' collar. I didn't have any more intention to punch him, instead, all of my attention focused on her. Had someone hurt her in _that_ way before? Because I'd seen other girls reject my brothers before, and it had looked nothing like this.

Normally it was a lot of 'get away from me you creep' and 'you're a douchebag, that's why. Now get away from me. Dick' but never any crying. I supposed girls understood that they weren't really going after them, that they were just being stupid and pushing their boundaries. But Maisee looked legitimately scared, like she'd expected him to keep going even after she said no.

Unlike my brothers, when my mind shut off at the sight of her tears, I took a step forward, rather than back.

"Hey, don't worry, it's ok. They won't ever do anything like that to you, I promise."

"How can you lie so easily? How can you be so sure?" Her words broke my heart. Who had hurt this girl so badly that she didn't even have the ability to trust anyone? One day, I'd find that asshole and beat the crap out of him, even if it was the death of me.

"Look at me Maisee, please?" I waited a couple of beats as she dragged her eyes away from the soft carpet under her toes, to my saddened expression. It hurt me to have to do this, to have to explain to someone that the world wasn't all bad. That should be something that we all learnt from when we were little. You were supposed to discover the evil in the world as you grew up, not the other way around. "I promise you that no one in this house will ever, _ever_ hurt you. And if they do, all you have to do is call out to me and I'll punch the living daylights out of them. Does that sound good?"

"I… don't know." I could see it in her eyes again, that lost expression she sometimes got. It reminded me of a little girl who wanted to trust others so much but didn't want to get hurt. She was scared, terrified of letting herself fall. Because no one had ever caught her before.

"I suppose that'll have to be enough for now. But just remember what I said, ok?" A nod was the only answer I got. "Do you wanna go to your room and away from those idiots?" I didn't even bother pointing at them. My brothers' IQ was no secret. Again, all I got in response was a quick nod. Smiling at her, I led the way, but not before shooting Marcus, Alex and Blake a hard glare.

 _You ever even look at her and I kill you, is that clear?_ A chorus of yeah's met my mind as I pointed to the door that had been assigned to her. I'd accompanied her up in case she didn't remember which one it was but now that she'd gotten there I didn't know what to do. I was sure she'd want to spend some time alone but every part of me was begging me to go into her room with her. I didn't want her to be alone with her feelings in that room - I wanted to be there for her. A shoulder to cry on, a friend to help her out needed it.

"Bye Gray, and… Thank you." She decided for me, quickly shutting the door to her bedroom. Sighing to myself, I shook my head, trying to get rid of my thoughts. They all revolved around her lately, and I couldn't even find it in me to care.

 **Hi :)**

 **This early chapter's dedicated to FinchyBenedict and lissa, who've both been amazing, as well as all of my other reviewers. I love all of your supportive comments so much that I decided to speed up my writing a little to give you guys this early chapter :) I hope you liked it ^.^**

 **Updating will probably go back to normal but meh, I dunno. Maybe I'll feel generous again if I get reviews *wink* *wink* *nudge* *nudge***

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	14. Chapter 14

Petal's POV

I could hear voices from downstairs like a heated argument was going on, but I was too scared to make my way down and see. I'd survived another day in the Benedict household, and I felt like I was honestly pushing my luck by this point, which was the main reason I was staying cooped up in my room. The other reason was Gray.

He made me feel more alive than I had in so long. He was different to everyone else. In fact, so different that my heart was screaming at me to trust him, because he wasn't like the monster. _He_ wouldn't have told me he'd punch the living daylights out of anyone who tried to harm me. _He_ would never put as much effort as Gray did into making sure that I wasn't afraid. Gray was different from the monster, but even that wasn't enough for me to be able to trust him.

Yet whenever I was around him, all precaution seemed to be thrown out the window. All those defence mechanisms that had kept me alive for so long were deemed unnecessary in his presence, and I was scared of that. My shields had always been up, I couldn't stand the idea of anyone being able to surpass them, especially if it ended up being my fault.

Deciding I had nothing better to do than listen in on the argument brewing downstairs, I leaned against the door, silencing my thoughts in hope of being able to interpret the mumbles that arrived at my ears.

"Gray, calm down… You… It's just the…" I couldn't make out exactly what she was saying but, judging by how female the voice sounded, I could just about work out that it was Sky speaking.

"No! They scared her… She didn't want… And they still…" Once again, half the message remained hidden. My heart was telling me it was Gray saying the lines, but I had no way of making sure. And in any case, I didn't know who this 'she' was.

"We didn't mean… do anything! She just… We only…" It was a guy speaking this time. This mysterious 'she' kept popping up, making me more and more curious. I know I had told myself I wouldn't, but I slowly eased open my door, trying to hear more of the conversation. Now I was perched atop the stairs, ready to make a run for it if anyone so much as walked into the hallway. But the living room door was shut, so their voices were still partly concealed from me.

"Did you not hear what we said during the first family meeting? Maisee's been hurt before! She's been hurt really really bad. And then you came in without a care in the world, harassing her like she doesn't even have any feelings." I was 100% sure that it was Gray, if only because I didn't know anyone else who'd be willing to defend me that way. But… Why was I the 'she'? I didn't matter enough to have an argument over, not if I wasn't being insulted anyway.

"Why do you even care so much? She's probably in her bedroom, daydreaming about birds and flowers without a care in the world. You're the only one getting so caught up in this!" They didn't understand anything. Of course I was hurting, looking out a window and hearing birds chirping didn't alleviate my pain any. They'd brought back so many memories of the monster that for a minute I'd almost gotten drowned in them. That was, until Gray asked me to look into his eyes. Just like always, the brown seemed to root me down to the real world, and for once I was thankful of that.

"Did you not see her eyes? She was close to a panic attack dude, and you're just brushing it off as if it doesn't even matter." Did this mean that he was actually willing to defend me in front of his family like he promised? I'd never known anyone to have done that. Promises were constantly broken in my world, especially if I wasn't there to see them be destroyed. But Gray wasn't turning his back on it, not even now that I couldn't judge him for doing anything less.

"Of course her feelings matter but they don't matter enough to have a fucking argument over. I mean seriously Gray, she's not even here, you can drop the bloody hero act." And there it was. I knew it wouldn't take long before they noticed that I didn't matter.

"It's not a hero act! I care about her!" Shuffling was heard inside the room and I stood up, ready to sprint away.

"Why?!"

"Because she's my soulfinder!" A bang was heard as someone hit the wall, the echo resounding all the way through the house. And then, simply silence, everyone in the room seemingly as shocked as I was. Now's the time when I _really_ wished I had waited for a response to my earlier question. Because what the hell is a soulfinder? They sounded important. Important enough to drive Gray up a wall for. "But, you know, thanks guys." The door knob turned and without giving it a second thought, I ran back to my bedroom, the door shutting closed firmly behind me. He passed by, his footsteps quiet, but not so silent that I didn't hear them pause at my door. Just like yesterday, the chimney lit up soon after, putting a smile to my face. Now I knew who had caused it. But should I open the door and confront him about it? Did I even want to know what a soulfinder was?

Something told me I really didn't, but the curiosity was eating me up inside.

 **Hi :)**

 **So, recently I've started writing a lot more, meaning I've got quite a few stored chapters in my stash. And I was just too excited about it to not give it to you guys - so updating will go up to twice a week. One will still be on Thursdays and the other will be Mondays or Sundays. I also felt kind of bad, cause this story** ** _is_** **quite slow, due to Petal having trust issues, so I wanted to treat you all for bearing with me :) (Wow this is a long A/N)**

 **Once again, thanks so much to all of my reviewers, your response to the last chapter really made me smile :)**

 **Bye bye =^.^=**


	15. Chapter 15

It had been a week since then, and I'd settled quite nicely into the Benedicts. Obviously, I was still afraid, but Gray had been with me all through the week, helping me getting along. Somehow that made it easier, even though I shouldn't trust him. It was funny how the worst part of my day was when he left for school, despite the fact that I should've felt relieved. 1 person in the house (normally Sky) was a lot better than the twenty billion that normally inhabited this place.

So I had survived, but that didn't mean I was any less angsty. I was still waiting to do something wrong. I'd been told off though, and nothing had happened. I'd been explicitly told to not make any more meals, which wasn't that confusing, they perhaps liked cooking a lot. What _was_ confusing though was their reaction to me making breakfast despite their wishes. They just asked me not to. That was strange where I came from. You were never asked to do anything. You either did it or you were beaten to unconsciousness.

"We're home!" Friday had come and gone, allowing a sigh of relief to escape my mouth. I'd been bored for the past week. With nothing to do but patrol the forests, I'd soon run out of things to entertain myself with. Which meant long mornings of staring up at the ceiling and long afternoons of Gray talking to me whilst I mumbled answers. I didn't mind the latter so much, those were actually quite enjoyable, but it gave me the feeling that we were getting closer. And doing that hurt.

"Oh, Gray can you do the shopping for me?" The question was asked but the rest of the sentence was lost to my ears as Sky's voice shushed down. I'd lost my curiosity over what people said in this house after that day with the soulfinder talk. I didn't want to confuse my mind any further. In fact, I'd done a pretty good job of repressing that memory for the duration of this week.

I was still staring up at the ceiling, almost in a trance, when the door opened. Startled, I jumped up, sticking my back to the wall and taking on a defensive pose. When I saw Gray's head sticking through the crack of the opened door, I relaxed, slumping back down on the bed.

"Sorry, did I scare you?"

"No, it's fine." He could see that I was lying, the scepticism in his eyes too obvious to miss. Regardless he invited himself into my room, like he did on most days. I'd gotten used to it, but that's not to say that it didn't still send my heart racing.

"Anyway, I heard from mom that you've been cooped up all day. She wants me to get some socks for Max and Vince, so I was wondering if you'd want to come. You still need to buy yourself some winter clothes." Now that he said it, escaping the house _did_ sound nice, but getting out only to go into another enclosure didn't sound nearly as pleasant. Especially considering how over-stuffed it would be. He was right though, I did need new clothes. On some days, it was so cold that I couldn't go out without shivering half to death. Sighing, I decided. I'd need to do this whether I wanted to or not.

"I don't have any money." Ok, so maybe I didn't make up my mind _that_ much. Maybe I was still making excuses in my head. But it was true, I couldn't afford any other clothes. The monster had only ever given me money to do the shopping, and I was expected to only spend money on that. If the monster found out I'd splurged a little on myself he would've gone ballistic.

"Were you honestly expecting to have to pay for your own clothes? You're part of the family now." I'd never been told that in my life. It left a warm feeling in my chest, one I hadn't experienced in so long. But I couldn't let him do this for me, I didn't deserve their money – I'd done nothing but mope around for a week straight.

"No, I can't possibly let you do that, I-"

"Maisee stop freaking about it, clothes aren't that expensive anyway, and mom gave me extra to pay for you." Gray tried to keep convincing me, but my mind had wandered. I didn't pay attention to the end of his sentence as an idea popped into my brain. Surely if I started to go to school again and got a part time job I could pay them back? It's like he said, clothes aren't that expensive so I'd be able to earn the money for them in no time. Then I wouldn't feel so bad about what I was doing.

"I… Alright." A huge smile lit up his face, and just like he always did, he offered me a hand to stand up from the bed. Shakily, I brought my palm up to his. This was the first time I was letting him touch me, but it was different to whenever my dad did. He was always harming, his hands never rose to me if they weren't in a fist to punch me. But Gray's was open, palm up in a sign of peace. And for once, I found I could let myself trust, even if it was only this little bit. His eyes widened as he saw that I would accept his offer. I'd never done that before. A shock of electricity ran down my arm as our fingertips touched, and I noticed that Gray had felt it too as we both looked at each other in shock. Was this part of his ability too? I hadn't felt this with anyone else.

"C-come on, we… uh… we need to leave before the, um…" Then he stopped completely, just staring into my eyes. We hadn't noticed but I was still on my bed, my hand in his, and neither of us had moved since the electricity. "I honestly can't remember what I was saying." Too entranced by his presence, I didn't hear what he said. So tilting my head to the side, I let my voice drift around the room, hoping it didn't sound as vulnerable as I thought it did.

"What?"

"Nothing, never mind." I was bewitched by his presence, as he scratched the back of his neck awkwardly, shooting me a smile. He was so close to me. Wait. He was… Close. Too close. Closeness hurt. I needed to get out. _Now_. Startling out of the wonderful daydream he'd put me in, I took my hand out of his and helped myself to my feet, passing a stunned Gray.

All the while I was trying to keep my breathing under control. Gray had always seemed to keep me planted in reality but I'd never expected that reality. It was different to anything I'd ever experienced. And that was setting off alarm bells all over my head.

"Shopping?" A still confused gaze met mine as Gray deftly nodded, gesturing towards the door.

"Uh, yeah. Shall we?" I had to suppress a giggle at his confused expression. If I laughed at anyone back at the monster's house I would get screamed at, so I'd never even thought of laughing around him. But here in the nicest bedroom I'd ever had, with the nicest guy I'd ever met, all I wanted to do was laugh non-stop. With joy, with tears, with anything. Or even with nothing at all. He was doing something to my heart. I wanted him to stop. But at the same time, I never wanted it to end.

"Mhm." Humming in response, we made our way out of the house, still in a comfortable silence. I wish he'd fill it up with stupid comments to distract my mind from the path it was going down. I'd done this already too many times this week, a loop in time that just kept repeating itself. I discovered I was more comfortable with Gray than I should be, I freaked out, I told myself that getting close to others was dangerous, I figured out I couldn't help it, I panicked a little more, and then things went back to normal. That is, until it started again.

The walk to the car was short, and as he opened the door for me I had a small lapse of confidence. I trusted Gray but could I really do this? Could I trust him with taking me where we were supposed to go and not somewhere like the places my father had taken me? At my hesitation he rose his eyebrows at me, motioning for me to get in. It was like that first day all over again, when I couldn't force myself to take a step into the house.

Finally noticing that something was wrong, Gray let go of the door, leaving it hanging open. It teetered there, teasing me with closing and putting an end to the nightmare in my head. But never getting there.

"Maisee is everything ok?"

 **Hi :)**

 **Extra long chapter for you wonderful people :) (1500 words, I mean I didn't even know my attention span lasted that long XD ) I've been seeing the nominations going on in the Finding Sky awards and OH MY GOSH GUYS YOU VOTED FOR ME? You all deserve the tightest hugs in the world!**

 **An also a massive thanks to my reviewers, for making me feel amazing no matter what =^.^= I hope you guys liked this chapter :)**

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	16. Chapter 16

"I… The… Uh, I think we should just-" I think he understood how much I didn't want to end the sentence. Making demands wasn't in my nature (mostly due to the monster) and I couldn't tell him what I wanted to do. So he interrupted, offering me a solution to my obvious dilemma.

"How about we walk? I mean it'll be a _lot_ longer but it's mostly a dirt road so it's near the forest. You'll like it, I promise." Immediately, I understood what he was doing – making it look like it was his choice to walk when really it was more mine than anything else. I appreciated it though, it lifted the angst that had been settling into my chest since we'd gotten close to the car.

"That sounds lovely." He shut the car door quickly with a loud bang and I sent him a thankful smile, which he returned, sending my heart racing. How was it even possible for a human being to be so considerate? In my life, I'd always seen people who thought the world revolved around them. It was always 'I' and 'me'. No one ever thought that just like their world revolved around them the same was true for everyone else. It was as if Gray understood this, even if he'd never said it to me specifically. Just in his everyday actions, it was obvious by the way he always thought of others first. He wasn't egotistical, he saw the same beauty in the world that I glanced at every day.

"I'll be quiet too, that way you can listen to your little forest animals." He wiggled his fingers, making a joke about the magic, but I chose to ignore it. Instead, I nodded happily, the feeling of joy, due to understanding things a little more, threatening to take me over. But at the same time, it was battling with the side of me that said all humans were bad, and surely Gray couldn't be an exception to this rule.

Not even 10 minutes into the walk, Gray was already breaking the rule he'd set himself, but I didn't really mind much. Judging by how he'd thought of going by car I was willing to bet that the shopping centre was pretty far, so I'd have more than enough time to enjoy nature.

"You know all the birds and animals around us?" His voice left in a soft whisper that threatened to get blown away, but I heard it.

"Yeah," I answered in a similar volume, although my voice was quiet anyway so I was probably inaudible. I concentrated slightly on everything around us. There were certainly a lot of birds, all chirping happily around us as if reflecting my mood. There was also crunching of frost heard to the side of the road so there was probably a fox around, although why it was close to the road was unclear to me. I hoped it wouldn't get too confident and get caught up in a road accident.

"Did you know that they only ever come out like this when you're around?"

"What do you mean?" I shot him a confused look, slowing my steps even further so I could concentrate on the animal still lingering on the sidelines. I wanted to beg it to go away like I'd done with the birds, but I couldn't seem to gather that energy again. My mind slowly patted against the fox's mind, a whispered plea to go further into the forest where it couldn't get hurt.

"If I were here alone I'd hear 1 bird, maximum. But now that you're with me they're hoarding around us. It's beautiful." He closed his eyes, stopping. I followed suit, my instincts shouting at me not to, but my heart begging me to close them. All survival techniques thrown out the window, I concentrated on my surroundings. Just like always, things took on a stark contrast which only became apparent when I could focus everything on nature.

It was like my soul, my heart, and even my mind became one with the forest, humming in tune with its essence. I became another small animal, scurrying through the gaps left by the lower branches to make a quick, graceful exit. Another bird high in the trees, free at last, with wind flowing through my soft feathers, supporting my wings. And when I was like this I could truly see what they saw, appreciate all that nature had to offer. Because I became nature.

"God, I don't even know how you do this but it's crazy powerful Maisee." His voice startled me out of my daydream, pulling me away from the fantasy world. My eyelids fluttered open, seeing Gray standing there with his eyes still closed, slowly swaying with the wind. His hands were stuffed in his pockets, his shoulders hunched in from the chill but his face didn't betray how cold he was. All that was there was a serene expression, that I could somehow see my own face forming when I got immersed in my dream.

"You see it too?" The sound left my throat choked. It's like I'd forgotten how to even be human, losing my ability to speak.

"Only with you." His eyes opened too, zeroing in on my form as I watched him curiously. What did he mean? "I don't think I told you but you're so powerful that whenever you use your ability it just kind of… expels out. So by being around you whilst you contact your savant ability, I experience the same thing."

"That was part of my savant ability?" I'd always known I was different in my way I saw things, but I could've never imagined that this was the reason. It felt like cheating somehow, simply being able to see all of this beauty due to my genes. But I wouldn't change it for the world.

"Yeah. Amazing, isn't it?" A laugh left my lips in disbelief. I'd never have thought I'd even be having this conversation with someone in my life. Explaining how I saw nature… It was just something that was special to me and that I didn't want to taint by attempting to put it into words. But I didn't have to do that with Gray, because he'd already seen. It felt freeing to know that I could give it to someone as a gift without having to lose the magic of it all. And it truly was that – pure magic.

"Unbelievably so." We'd started walking again, knowing that if we didn't get going we probably wouldn't get back before nightfall.

"I can see how you'd think that, I mean you've only known about being a savant for a week. But don't worry about it, I'm sure you'll get used to it someday."

"I don't think I want to, though."

"You don't want to be a savant?"

"No, I don't want to become accustomed. Then I'll stop appreciating the beauty. Right now, every time I get that explosion of senses I… God I become breathless and wide-eyed and absolutely entranced by the magic. But if I get used to it, that'll all be lost, won't it?" I didn't remember the last time I'd spoken for that long without someone screaming at me that no one cared. Gray was watching me attentively though, as if he had nothing he'd rather do than hear me rant about the feelings taking over my chest.

"If it makes you feel better I don't think you'll ever become used to it. I mean I've experienced that and I could be living through it every day of my life and still become speechless every time."

 **Hi :)**

 **I hope you've all had a good start of the week! I don't have much to say today tbh, apart from that I hope you all did well in your exams, cause I recently got back my mock results and I know I was really freaked out about that :/ So I hope you guys did amazingly!**

 **Thank you so much you guys for reading and reviewing, you're all my favourite people in the world =^.^=**

 **Bye bye :)**


	17. Chapter 17

After a long walk, we finally arrived at the shopping centre. It was a good hour afterwards but the fresh air had done me good, especially the conversations with Gray. He had a way of making me forget all of my reservations and fear, pulling me in with his kind brown eyes. God, this was getting ridiculous, my defences had all been pulled down by a teenage boy. Albeit, a _cute_ teenage boy but I was really trying not to think about that.

"So what do you want to do first, socks or clothes for you?" Startling out of my thought process, I glanced over at Gray. He was looking at me with a question in his eyes, but I hadn't a clue what to answer. I'd never gotten given a choice in my life, although, then again, in my old life I wouldn't have been taken shopping either. Lately, there'd been too many 'first's.

"I don't mind." Not ready to make a decision that encompassed others – regardless of how small – I opted for the easiest option. After all, the monster had told me that sometimes people asked things just to be polite, when really there was only one clear choice. I'd never been particularly good at reading signals so I couldn't really tell which one Gray wanted to go to first. Because he surely couldn't _actually_ be asking for my opinion, right? No one ever did that.

"I'm the one who doesn't mind. I mean my options are: shopping for my roommate or shopping for my brother. Both are kind of the same." But they weren't. One was for his family and the other was for a girl that had been holed up in a room near him for the past week. I wasn't important.

Before I even had time to react, I was plunged into a nightmare. In a quick second, years of beatings flashed before my eyes, and my father's words: 'you're never _ever_ important enough. Stop fooling yourself and treat people with the respect they deserve from a low life like you'. That was his favourite set of words to use against me, because he could see how much it hurt. At once, what I needed to answer became clear.

What I wanted didn't matter. I didn't matter.

"Let's go shopping for your brother, I love little kid socks. They're just so cute." Trying to hide my impending mental break down from Gray, I smiled at him. The corners of my mouth felt strained, and I couldn't make the happiness reach my eyes, but it would do for now. Gray, looking unconvinced, nodded and pointed in the direction of the shop we needed to go to.

"Fair enough." On our short walk there, he kept trying to glance at me. I kept my head down though, only seeing his curious gaze through my peripherals. Why did he have to be so good at reading the expressions on my face? I just needed one minute of peace to remember that despite being unimportant, I did deserve to live, and I couldn't let the monster take that away from me. In five minutes the memories would be pushed down and his horrible words would be forgotten until another day. They never fully left but… At least I stopped thinking about them.

I knew he wouldn't give me those couple of minutes to recollect myself though. The urge to curl up into a ball to protect myself overwhelmed me and I almost ran away like the coward I am. It had always been like this, even back at the monster's. If he hit me my only defence was to hide. And now that I was safe from him, I still just wanted to run and never look back. Because doing anything else would hurt me. I was just a coward.

"Are you ok?" His question caught me off guard, although a part of me knew it was coming.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Do you ever get that feeling, where you feel like you're so vulnerable that you just _know_ you're going to shatter?" I was confused about the sudden change but, without letting me answer, he kept talking. I think he was trying to understand what I was feeling but… It was too close to being on target for comfort. "And you just think, maybe if I hide this from everyone at least they won't know. So you'll fall apart but no one will be able to judge you for your weakness."

"Why-"

"Because I need you to understand that it's ok to show that you're falling apart. Vulnerability is what makes us human. We're all vulnerable, and trying to hide it just ends up destroying us even more inside." Finally lifting my gaze, our eyes met, and I realised we'd stopped walking. We were off to the side, in our own little world. But that wasn't good. It just meant that the only place for him to look was me, and the more he looked the more he'd be able to see how broken I was. No matter what he said, I knew how people worked, and all the crap he was spewing about it being ok… It was just what he thought now, before he actually saw how destroyed I was.

"Don't. Just… Don't."

"Why not? I'm just trying to help." The honest sincerity in his eyes was the last straw it took for me to completely snap. He actually believed he could help, just like the psychologist and the doctor and the rest of his family. But none of them understood. I couldn't be helped.

"Well you can't! And you know why? Because I'm broken, shattered into dozens of little pieces. I won't ever get better. I won't ever be able to look a man in the eyes without seeing _him_ , and I won't ever be able to be in a relationship because he destroyed that for me too. I'm not capable of trust and I've been convinced that I'm useless. I'm broken Gray, and… And I can't be fixed."

"You're not. You're bent that's all-"

"Bent? Oh you've got to be kidding me!" I was bawling by this point, tears streaming down my cheeks. I was too over emotional to care though. I was angry and my whole world felt like it was falling apart. All of those memories that I'd been repressing all this time to keep my head, they were rising to the surface, plaguing me with insults and words meant to kill me inside. Over and over again. "You're not bent if you've been abused your whole life. You're not bent if you saw your mum choose happiness over you. You're not bent if you've never been loved. You're not bent if you're a monster like me.

"You've been snapped." The tears continued to fall, with nothing I could do to stop them. Gray obviously didn't share this opinion as he began wiping them carefully.

"I'm… I'm so sorry." For a second, I thought he'd cry too, but what he did instead surprised me even more than if he'd done that. He was saying sorry. "For everything he's done to you. I'm sorry." Why was he apologising?

"It's not your fault… It's just me."

"Don't you dare-" I didn't want to hear him try to explain how I wasn't worthless or horrible or a monster. I didn't want to hear any of it, because I'd been told the opposite too many times to believe anything else.

"C-can I get a hug?" We both stood stock still at my outburst, and I thought he was going to refuse. I didn't even know what had come over me. I didn't want anyone close – people hurt others. But Gray wasn't just anyone. And that scared me.

"You don't even need to ask." Without me realising that he'd actually said ok, I'd been enveloped in his arms. It felt like when I hid under the covers to protect myself from the monsters.

Nothing could hurt me here, even if it was a naïve idea to think that a single human or a blanket would be able to protect me from all the evil in the world. For a minute I went back to being a scared little girl who was desperate enough to believe that.

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 **I hope you liked this chapter, it had a little bit more of revealing how Petal sees herself, so it was quite fun to write :)**

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	18. Chapter 18

Gray's POV

It had been a month since Maisee joined us and I was more terrified than ever. It had taken me a while to figure out just how broken she was but… Now that I did, well, let's just say I'd been a lot happier not knowing. Ignorance is bliss. The monster back at her old house had truly screwed her up inside. And it wasn't just the trauma that she had from being beaten for years. It was that she believed that she _deserved_ all of that.

"Maisee get back here!"

"No!" Who would've thought that the giggling girl in front of me, with the shining sky-blue eyes and innocent look, thought herself worthless? Not me, that's for sure. She told me a few days ago, when she was curled up in a corner of her bedroom, quietly sobbing to herself. I'd asked her what was wrong, trying to comfort her. She'd looked so heartbroken. And then she looked me straight in the eye, telling me to leave because she didn't deserve to be hugged and cherished and loved. I'd never hugged anyone tighter. Before then I'd only let her initiate contact, as I knew she'd probably have a fear of it, but all thoughts flew out of my head in that one moment. My soulfinder was hurt and… And she didn't think she had the right to get better.

"Why not?"

"Cause you're mean." I continued to chase her around the house, trying to forget all the thoughts that had been building up. The headache it was giving me just _thinking_ about her in pain was enough for me to want to forget that memory forever. But at the same time, I didn't. I wanted to be able to help her. Without knowing what the problem was, I'd never be able to do it. Even if it ended up causing me pain to watch her suffer… At least it would mean me being able to put an end to _her_ pain.

"Oh come on, all I did was tickle you."

"Exactly!" I had her trapped, her back against my parent's bedroom door at the end of the hallway. Smiling at her cockily, I reached down to her waist and pulled her towards me, intending on starting the on slaughter. The laugh that would soon reach my ears made me grin all the wider, but before I could get to it, we were interrupted.

"What're you doing?" A quick look over my shoulder told me that it was Vince who was standing behind us. A teddy was clutched in his hands as he gazed at us in confusion.

"Nothing, I'm just killing Maisee for being a very bad girl." I winked at Vinny but he didn't seem to get the joke, stalking in between us and pushing us both apart. He then stood in front of her, looking at me with child-like anger. I had to cough to hide the chuckle that threatened to escape my mouth.

"No! Don't hurt her! Maisee brings me cookies and she's nice!" Hiding her own smile, Maisee crouched down next to him and wrapping her arms around him.

"Aw Vince, don't worry, he wasn't actually going to hurt me."

"Are you sure?"

"Definitely."

"Oh good, cause mommy says soulfinders are special and I don't want Gray to kill his." He then looked at both of us with the biggest puppy dog eyes ever. Not being able to stop myself from laughing anymore, I left out a loud guffaw of laughter. That is, until I realised what he'd said. That sobered me up quickly enough.

"Vince, what's that word you just said? Soulfinders?"

"Yeah. Mommy and daddy are soulfinders and they love each other very much." He then shrugged, whilst I stopped myself from strangling the kid just to get him to shut his trap.

"Vinny I believe it's your bedtime now-"

"Why do you not want her to know that you're hers forever?" Maisee was gaping at the both of us, and (not for the first time since I found out she was my soulfinder) I deeply regretted not having told her. I should've. It would've made complete sense for me to tell the girl I'm in love with that I'm bound to her until the day I die. But at first, I didn't want to overload her. And then I didn't want her to feel pressured into anything. And… In the end, I just wanted her to fall in love with me the old fashioned way. Without crazy telepathic bonds or superpowers. I guess I just wanted to be normal for once. I should've known that wasn't a possibility anymore.

"W-what?" Standing up, she looked me in the eye for a couple of seconds. Hoping I'd confirm the statement, I suppose. But when I didn't, she started walking away, towards her own bedroom.

"Wait, Maisee-"

"No, if it's true I just- I just need to get my head around a few things." I thought we'd gotten past the point where she hid her feelings from me because that's what she'd been told to do in her old house. I thought we were passed the point where she stuttered. It was like she was taking a massive step back. Not nearly as afraid as she was when she first met me but definitely close.

But it wasn't her taking a step back, it was me screwing up to the point where she retreated to her defence mechanisms.

 **Hi :)**

 **Well, that chapter took an unexpected turn. Tbh I was just going to write them having some adorable time - which it did start out as - and then suddenly this happened and I was just like whale then.**

 **But yeah, I hope you liked this chapter :) And I know I say it every chapter but I cannot stress it enough, I love all the support you give me, it's honestly what drives this story forwards.**

 **And I** ** _am_** **really sorry that it's been so slow but I wanted it to be more realistic in its pace. So just bear with me xD**

 **Bye bye :)**


	19. Chapter 19

Petal's POV

Quietly closing the door, I retreated to a corner of my bedroom. My head was spinning, unable to comprehend what had just happened. The hopeful part of me, the one that had proposed the idea of 'soulfinder' sounding really similar to 'soulmate' rejoiced in my head. However, it was battling with the rest of me that was convinced this was bad. Really _really_ bad

Because Gray couldn't possibly see me in that way, and this cosmic arranged marriage was forcing him to. I felt bad for what he'd been forced into. God knew I didn't have any problem with being paired off with Gray for the rest of my existence, but he couldn't see me the same way – I was despicable. Sure, he'd been treating me like a friend but that didn't equate to wanting to spend forever with me.

The monster had once explained that even spending a couple of minutes in my presence was excruciating. I could only imagine how horrible Gray must be feeling about having to spend an hour with me… And then another hour… And then a day, a week, a month a year. The 'couple of minutes' piling up until he wouldn't be able to take it anymore. I wouldn't blame him.

A soft knock sounded at the door, his worried voice drifting through, but I ignored it, drifting back into my thoughts. Would there be any way to make this easier for him? I couldn't run away – that'd already gone badly enough that first time – and I couldn't just distance myself from him. No one in this house knew me (mostly because of me avoiding contact constantly) so he was my only ally. How could I show him that I was worthless?

But then I remembered a couple nights ago, the clear anger in his eyes as I told him that I was worthless. He'd already formed his opinion, believing me to be something worthy. The soulmate bond must've already worked its magic then. It was forcing Gray to see things that weren't there. I was ready to call it a lost cause at that point; if the arranged marriage was skewing his view of reality there'd be nothing I could do except try to annoy him less with my presence. But then an idea popped into my head. All those years at school with nothing but glares and nasty comments from others. Surely if he saw me like that he'd see what the rest of the world saw and be relieved of pretending to care for me.

Standing up determinedly, I marched to the door without letting myself think about it. If I stopped I'd see what a disastrous idea this was, but just as long as I kept walking and walking the negative side of me wouldn't be able to make me retreat to my room. So I didn't stop when I passed Gray, not when I tripped over my own two feet and definitely not when poor little Vince said sorry.

Trying to persuade myself that this was for the best, I forced myself to remember that day two weeks ago when I'd started crying in the middle of the shopping centre. After I'd calmed down we'd continued shopping, and I'd promised myself I'd get a job to pay them back – but I couldn't exactly do that if I was stuck at home, could I? So this was not only a chance to show Gray who I really was but also to end my debt to the Benedicts. It was a win-win. At least that's what I was trying to convince myself of.

"Um, Mrs Benedict?" Her eyes met mine as she lifted her gaze from her book, waving me over to sit next to her with a warm smile. I'd never met anyone as kind as Sky so I was sure she'd let me do whatever I wanted. That was part of the reason for asking her and not Zed (the other reason being that he was too tall, even taller than Gray, and it scared me to be so close to someone who could snap me like a twig).

"Call me Sky, sweetheart." This was the beginning of every single one of our conversations. "What do you need?"

"I was, uh, wondering if I could start school." This seemed to surprise her for a second, but then she narrowed her eyes in her confusion. I shuffled awkwardly on the couch beside her, her penetrating gaze making me feel exposed.

"Are you sure?" No.

"Yeah, of course, why wouldn't I be?" Total lie. And the worst part was that she caught on. I thought I'd gotten pretty good at lying, what with needing to deal with the monster on a daily basis, but she saw that I was lying straight away.

"Your aura… It looks like you're sad and scared. And you lied before." Of course. The kindest person in this house _had_ to be able to see through my fibs and attempts at hiding behind my feelings. I wanted to simply close my mouth and refuse to speak anymore – she didn't want me to lie? I'd show her. But in the end the feeling of loneliness won out. I just needed someone who understood what I was going through with the whole soulfinder business, and Vince had said that Sky was Zed's. "Are you ok?"

"I…" Unsure how to tell her, I leaned forward as if I was telling her a big secret. Which, for all I knew, it might've been, despite Gray having shouted it to his whole family all that time ago. "Gray… He told me something and… I'm not really sure how to react."

"What did he tell you?" It seemed like she already knew but wanted me to confirm it first.

"About s-soulfinders." Understanding dawned on her features. The confused look finally abandoned her, a small smile returning to her. The same one that she'd greeted me with and that made me long for my mother.

"Ah, yes. And you're afraid of it, I can imagine." I nodded slightly. Words weren't enough to describe what I was feeling so I hoped my eyes conveyed the message well enough. "I – partly – understand how you feel. You see, I didn't know anything about savants when I met Zed. He didn't take nearly as long to tell me about him being my soulfinder as Gray did, but that's not saying much, considering he told me as soon as he could. He was really excited about having met me – soulfinders are rare in the savant world – so much in fact that he went a little nuts when I told him I didn't believe him.

"After a while I finally got to the point where I wanted to try with him. It took him a little longer to convince me that I myself had superpowers but… Well, I guess that hurdle's already been passed with you, huh?" She then closed her eyes for a couple of seconds, as if reminiscing. They opened again slowly, taking in my appearance carefully. I probably looked just as terrified as before. She had to understand that I wasn't worried about him lying to me or anything. Sky was a wonderful person, her story might be one from a fairy tale but mine wouldn't be. "What're you afraid is going to happen, Maisee?" Before I could stop myself, I started babbling. The urge to have a mother was just too strong, overpowering me in the split second I had to make a decision about whether to confide in her or stay away.

"I'm afraid for him. I… I know what I am and I know girls like me don't deserve guys like Gray. I don't want him to feel trapped by me and- and I don't want him to see the rest of his life as ruined because he's got this cosmic arranged marriage linking us together."

"You know, I called it a cosmic arranged marriage at first too." A laugh left her mouth, turning up the corners of her mouth slightly. But she wasn't joking, it was obvious she'd seen this soulfinder business as a disaster, just like I'd done. "I know it can be scary, and feeling unworthy of him, well, that's only natural. But do you know why?" I shook my head silently. I didn't want her to tell me that it was normal for someone like me to feel unworthy because I _was_ unworthy and she wanted me to stay away from her son. But I stayed quiet, waiting for her to talk again. I guess a part of me was desperate for her to tell me something different, maybe even some kind words like my mother would've done if she loved me. "Because he was _made_ for you. For the rest of your life you'll look at him as if he draws the sunset each day or decorates the night sky. He'll be your sun, your stars, your moon, your _everything_ , and it's only normal to feel like you don't belong with someone so perfect. But you need to remember that he sees you in exactly the same way – in his eyes _he's_ the one that doesn't deserve you. You're both perfect in the other's eyes, and imperfect in your own opinion.

"So of course you're going to think you don't deserve him, just like he doesn't deserve you. But you know what? It's the people who look past the 'I don't deserve him' and still give it a shot, still try to make him as happy as he makes them, that are able to get the man of their life." I stared at her in slight shock, trying to process what she had said. Surely, it couldn't be true? But the hopeful part of me was doing a little happy dance at the notion of someone believing I was perfect with all my imperfections.

"I don't really know what to say."

"Don't then. Just let that sink in, alright? That's all I'm asking, because I've seen how happy you've been making my son and… well, I don't want him to lose the twinkle in his eyes that he gets when you're around." She then patted my knee, standing up and beckoning me to follow her with her eyes. "Now what do you say to some tea?" I'd discovered in the past month that Sky really liked her tea, and I couldn't really blame her, I'd become quite fond of it myself. So I nodded, going with her into the kitchen as my mind still buzzed with possibilities. Could it be possible that Gray really saw me in that way? He couldn't… But I wanted so badly for it to be true. I'd become one of the lovesick teenagers that I'd made fun of back at the monster's. I'd made myself promise all that time ago that I wouldn't let myself go stupid with love. It was survival above anything else, and I wouldn't let anyone jeopardise that by making me believe I was worthy of love.

For the next hour, Sky and I talked about whether I actually wanted to go to school – to which I answered with yes, I was getting bored out of my mind stuck in this house – and what I was going to do about the Gray fiasco – I just shrugged, I didn't even know the answer to that one myself. I called her Sky throughout our chat and I felt my heart warming to her more and more. All my defence mechanisms were being deactivated by this family, one by one. Gray making me believe that I could have friends (or maybe even a boyfriend but I was trying to avoid thinking too much about that one). Vince making me less afraid of contact; the cute little guy had hugged me when we first met, nearly giving me a heart attack, until I realised that not everyone who hugged me or held my hand was out to destroy me. And now Sky, with her kind voice and understanding nature, who made me leave behind my ideas of no one being able comprehend my pain. I wanted to let them all into my heart.

Now the only question was, was I even capable of doing that?

 **Hi :)**

 **Oh my god guys, this chapter is ridiculously long. Like, 2200 words long. And I'm super excited about it cause it has Sky in it, and she's my favourite character in the whole savant series. I was honestly upset that there was so little of her in Stealing Phoenix and Seeking Crystal. But I hope you guys liked grown up Sky :)**

 **You guys are stars, honestly. I don't know how you put up with me xD But I did want to give you all a treat for all the reviews I've gotten (we've passed the 50 mark! I've never gotten this many reviews in a story!) so I made this chapter extra extra long =^.^=**

 **Bye bye :)**


	20. Chapter 20

I walked down the stairs, my clothes feeling heavy, as if my shoes had been encrusted with lead. I was sure it was just my mind playing tricks on me to convince me to stay at home, but I kept going, my feet dragging behind me. Morning sunlight shone through the big window in the kitchen, giving me a warm welcome and making me want to growl at it. It wasn't a good morning, nothing was working in my favour and the weather wasn't reflecting my mood. It was like I was dying and the sun was coming to me and shouting enthusiastically in my ear.

"Hey Maisee," I grunted in response to whoever had said hello, not even bothering with seeing them. Over the past month, I'd gotten so used to waking up late (seeing how it was the only way to pass the time) that this whole waking up early thing was really taking its toll on me. If they'd only let me keep making breakfast and lunch every day, we wouldn't be having to face this problem.

"You ok?"

" _Fine_." I was, obviously, not. In fact, it was so much the contrary that I'd forgotten that rudeness made people hurt you. I couldn't afford to make the Benedicts hate me by this point, but if they hadn't already, they wouldn't start now, surely? Trying to clear the thoughts that my sleep deprived mind had conjured, I shook my head, sitting down on the table. My head fell forward until it made contact with the table, staying there. The lead in my shoes had been moved to my forehead and all the strength in the world didn't seem capable of moving it.

"…You sure? You don't really seem like yourself this morning." Lifting my head, I saw Gray giving me a concerned look, and growled at him. Yes, I actually growled. That was enough to shock me out of my mopey mood as I covered my mouth with both my hands, an apology forming at the tip of my tongue. That is until I noticed the laughter shining through Gray's eyes. He thought the situation humorous? I had _growled_ at him.

"What's so funny?"

"You. I've never seen you be anything but ridiculously nice." I was confused, he was saying it like me breaking that was a good thing. "It's hilarious." I'd never seen anyone have a reaction like that before to being disrespected. The monster had slapped me dozens of times before I learnt not to be rude and… Now Gray was just laughing as if it were funny?

"How? Shouldn't you be punching me? I'm… I'm really confused." At the start of my stay with the Benedicts I would've never dreamed of saying this out loud, but Gray had told me that saying what was on my mind was good. Especially if I was having trouble making sense of the whole situation. He said he'd understand – I guess that's what made me blurt things out lately, I was desperate for someone to understand me. Or, at least, to help _me_ understand.

The laughter disappeared from his eyes as he leaned forward. "I'd never do that Mais. I don't know how many times I need to tell you but I hope that one day you'll believe me." Despite him not saying it, we both heard the underlining idea of his words: he'd be with me for a whole load longer than I first imagined.

"I-I hope so too." The whisper left my mouth softly, a blush spreading across my cheeks. I didn't know what I was saying that to, us being together or me learning to trust others. I supposed it didn't really matter – I wanted both. Which was really, ridiculously dangerous.

"Hey, Mais, about that soulf-"

"Lovely day we're having, huh?" Sky walked in quickly, cutting Gray off, much to my relief. I was pretty sure she'd done so on purpose so I'd need to remember to thank her later. We hadn't yet talked about the soulfinder situation, nor how I felt about it, meaning Gray was bound to get impatient and ask me sooner or later. I'd just been hoping that it would be later rather than sooner.

"I guess, yeah." Continuing her game to distract him from the topic of conversation he'd been trying to bring up, she looked at me and giggled.

"Maisee doesn't seem to be able to say the same, she looks half-asleep."

"Sorry Mrs B- I mean Sky." She gave me a smile, waving her hand in the air as if it was no problem, and then turned her back to start working the kettle. I returned the smile just before she turned, able to catch the knowing look in her expression – she was _definitely_ aware of what she was doing to poor Gray.

"Um… So what I was asking before about-"

"Gosh, look at the time! You're both going to be late if you don't hurry up. Come on, chip chop." Abandoning the kettle entirely, seemingly noticing that my situation was more dire than she thought, she gave us her full attention again. Forcing us to eat our toast and coffee (milk for me, coffee tasted disgusting) kept his mouth occupied for just the right amount of time, giving me a chance to escape. The next excuse was that I was brushing my teeth, then that I was talking to Sky about the weather again (she was running out of ideas for conversation fast, and so was I) and finally that we'd arrived at school and being a savant wasn't something you could easily discuss in public.

I somehow made it through the whole hectic morning at home without incident – apart from tripping down the stairs. Twice. So we made it to the school gates without me actually having to talk to him, which made me feel quite guilty in the end. I didn't want to talk to him about it until I made up my mind, but if the situation were reversed I'd at least want him to tell me what decision he was overall leaning for. However, that was where the problem lay: I didn't even know that.

He'd ask me what I wanted to do and all I'd be able to say would be 'sorry, my fear and my attraction to you are duking it out in my brain. WW3 is about to start right about now so you might wanna take a step back before they freaking _blow you to smithereens_ like they've been doing to me for the past… How long was it since you told me exactly?' I'm sure that wouldn't go down particularly well. Especially with his protective nature. He'd want to save me from the nuclear war occurring inside my head, and then he'd discover that it was impossible to stop. It's always been waging inside my head – the urge to live happily (but with risk) and the urge to run away.

 **Hi :)**

 **Happy Valentine's Day everyone :) I'm so lonely... I have nobody... But that's ok cause Petal and Gray are here to amuse me xD**

 **Also, I have a sneak peak: Gray will be finding out Pet's real name in the next couple of chapters! Yay =^.^=**

 **Thanks again for all the wonderful reviews! You guys make my day, my week and my whole year. Who cares if I don't have a boyfriend on Valentine's Day? Screw it, I have you guys :D I hope you all enjoy it :)**

 **Bye bye :)**


	21. Chapter 21

Walking through school later on in the day, I was still mulling over what I would say to Gray once we got home. He'd want to know how I felt about the soulfinder bond, but I simply wasn't ready to talk about it yet.

I was so entranced by my line of thought that I didn't see the girl approaching me quickly. She probably hadn't seen me either, causing us to collide and my books to go everywhere. I started to apologise as I picked them up, but it was half-hearted. I'd spent a lot of time away from the monster and my submissive nature was slowly ebbing away, something I'd never thought would happen. But I liked it, it felt like I'd been given my voice back after all those years.

"Oi, watch where you're going, shorty." Standing up once I'd finished collecting my strewn books, I chanced a glance around. Unfortunately, I'd happened to crash against the worst group possible. The popular people. Just from the way they dressed and how they were peering down their noses at me, it was obvious. My eyes immediately cast downwards. No amount of time away from school would make me forget how to act around them. Just be quiet, stick to the shadows, and you won't get hurt. A little bit too late for that now. Heels and nikes entered my line of vision as I did this, showing me why the girl I'd crashed against had called me short (not to say that I wasn't), she was wearing platform heels that allowed her to tower over my 5' frame.

"Sorry." Trying to walk past them, I made a beeline for the side of their group, but was held back when someone grabbed the end of my t-shirt, throwing me on the floor and sending my books flying once more. Sighing, I went to repeat the process of picking them up, when I was stopped by platform-heel-girl's foot.

"Didn't hear you, freak."

"I said sorry."

"Still can't hear you." As she said this, she used the foot blocking my way to slide a few of them further down the corridor and out of reach. "Aw, look at the little freak, struggling to pick up a few books. She must be…" Instead of saying an insult, she stuck her tongue out and crossed her eyes, which served just as well. I sunk further into the floor, hoping to just get this done and over with. "Let's leave her alone guys, we've been taught not to mess with people like that." At this comment I went to speak up. I'd never met someone with a problem like that but they were people too and didn't deserve to be treated like that. They weren't to 'not be messed with' as if they were delicate china dolls. They were _people_.

"Hey! That's not ok. Insult me all you want but leave others out of this."

"Oh, I'm sorry, did I hit a nerve? I bet she has retarded people in her family, which is why she's getting so defensive."

"Do _not_ call them retarded." Scrambling to sit up, I glared daggers at the girl, who was staring at me with boredom on her features. Without letting it deter me, I stood up straighter. "Just stay out of things you don't understand." I was speaking as if I understood. Which I very much did not. But I _did_ have empathy, unlike them, and I was able to imagine what it must feel like to be called retarded for something you have no control over. They were being horrible, and I couldn't let that slip up just because I didn't know who they were offending personally.

"Aw." And then a manicured hand came to rest on my head. Before I was able to stop her, she patted me twice. After that, she didn't bother continuing the argument. Instead, she left with a sashay of her hips, her posse leaving behind her. Still fuming, I stood up, brushing myself off and collected my books once more.

And so, the nightmare of school began.

"We're home!" I'd been expecting the shout from Gray – after all it was how he greeted his parents every day after school – but it still made me jump. Loud noises weren't exactly my thing, even after all the time I'd spent here at the Benedicts. There had to be something wrong with me. Gray looked to his left to see me standing there, trying to regain my composure and pretend I hadn't jumped a foot in the air, and it was obvious he'd seen. "Sorry 'bout that, Mais."

"No, no, it's ok." I shuffled a couple steps forward, hoping to distract him from my obvious fear of everything, but his gaze kept me rooted on the spot. He always had this effect on me – leaving me unable to do much of anything else apart from notice him. I hoped I had the same effect on him but, at the same time, I didn't. It would just be the soulfinder magic anyway, it wouldn't be real.

Finally breaking our stare down, he turned his head, looking sad about something. Confused I stopped trying to run away to the stairs, instead taking a step closer. Glad that his brothers had gone off to do their own thing, I tentatively lifted a hand. I wasn't really sure what I was planning to do with it, but before it could curl up and retreat back to my side, Gray lifted his own hand, entwining our fingers together.

"You ok?" I didn't want to talk to him about soulfinders or anything just yet… but I didn't want him to be sad either. And if I needed to be uncomfortable for a couple of minutes for him to be happy then so be it.

"I was just thinking. Do you trust me Mais?"I wanted to rip my hand from his grasp and run for the hills. Instead, I stayed, wanting more than ever to be able to prove to him that I _did_ trust him. Even if I was unsure of it myself, even if I had no idea whether I was capable of trust, even if… Even if trust scared me witless. I'd stay and I'd give him an answer because I was tired of running away.

"I don't know. I just- don't know." Sighing, he went to pull away when an idea rose to my mind. It was crazy, it was dangerous, and yet my heart was beating louder not with fear but with exhilaration. If I could do this then I'd be able to prove to myself that I did trust Gray, that I'd overcome every single one of the obstacles in my mind. So leaning over slightly and standing on my tiptoes – Gray helping by leaning down – I put my mouth near his ear, making sure no one would be able to hear. If I chickened out, I could always say 'I think I do' and that would be it.

"Mais?"

"My- I think I do. But-" But that's not what I wanted to say. Taking a deep breath, I tried again. I wanted to do this – show the monster that he couldn't rule my life. Gray might turn out to be untrustworthy though, which would make this completely backfire- No. I wasn't even going to think like that. I trusted him, my heart had never had a gut instinct to tell someone my secrets so it had to be right this one time. "I- the thing is- My name. It- It isn't Maisee." Leaning even further, my lips practically touching his ear, I let go of all of my defences at once. "It's Petal." By this point I expected him to jump back. Maybe scream at me a little, or run off to tell the monster my whereabouts. But he didn't do either of those things. Instead, he shifted slightly so this time it was him whispering in my ear.

"What a beautiful name… For a beautiful girl, of course."

 **Hi :)**

 **I noticed that the last couple of chapters weren't really concentrated on Gray and Petal's relationship, so I decided to give you guys a treat :) So there you have it, Gray now knows Petal's name! I wasn't really sure how to do it, but this worked out ok :)**

 **Guys, I was definitely right about not needing a guy on Valentine's Day, because you all gave me so many reviews that I was happy for the whole day. I mean I'm pretty sure a brick could've fallen on my head and I would've still smiled. I don't deserve you guys, you're the best :)**

 **Also, personal thanks: lissa, Finchy Benedict and tahira** **(who've reviewed practically every chapter cause they're amazing), and all my wonderful Guests. You guys honestly make my day.**

 **Bye bye =^.^=**


	22. Chapter 22

It was the second day of school, and I wasn't doing much better for myself. Somehow, things had gotten worse.

"Pet do you want to eat lunch with me and my friends?" I was walking out of class, my books clutched tightly to my chest to avoid my having a panic attack. It was a lifeline by this point. When Gray asked me the question, I just grabbed them tighter, the edges of the books digging into my palms.

"No thank you." My tone was clipped and I was pretty sure that my eyes looked frantic. Which sounded about right, considering I'd been searching for a way to escape this hellhole for the past 3 hours.

I'd forgotten how truly terrible school could get, so I had lost my ability to desensitise myself when facing situations like these. Everyone kept looking at me. Constantly. No matter what I did there were whispers about 'that new girl' that no one knew the name of, apparently, considering _no one_ had called me anything other than new girl either yesterday or today. It was getting quite repetitive, if I could say so myself.

That wasn't the only problem though, I seemed to only have 1 class with Gray, the one before lunch, and bullies flocked me during these Gray-free periods. I'd been called told so much already (ranging from being a fat bitch to doing… the nasty with Gray), and that's not even mentioning the boys. They seemed to like winking at me and then laughing with their friends – as if pretending to like someone for the jokes was just _so funny_.

I wanted to punch someone, to say the least, but that's where the problem was. I simply couldn't. I'd had it enforced in me since I was little that behaviour like this towards me was completely ok. And even though I'd become unaccustomed to it during my residency at the Benedicts', I couldn't just let myself start imagining crazy scenarios where I was somehow just as important as the other kids in this school – which I wasn't. I suppose that's what I hated the most about this school day, the fact that it was bringing back all the rules, all the defence mechanisms, everything, as if I had gone back to the monster's house for a day trip.

"Well, if you're sure." He looked like he wanted to argue with me, cocking his head to the side and narrowing his eyes in question. It was obvious he didn't believe I really wanted to refuse his offer, but I did. I couldn't imagine a worse way to spend lunch than surrounded by jocks (who were bound to be the people Gray hung out with) and, knowing my luck, I bet the people from yesterday would be friends with him too. Exactly what I needed, being treated like I was slow for a whole half hour. Or even better yet, being made fun of for having to tail someone to be able to get any friends.

Making my way across campus, I sat down at the base of a willow tree. Smiling at my solitude for the first time in the whole day, I took out my sandwich, which had been forced on me earlier today by Sky. I munched on it slowly, never taking my eyes off the beautifully cascading leaves. If I concentrated hard enough, I could almost feel as if I were able to sway them with my mind. Back and forth, back and forth, slowly dancing with the wind to a song I set the tune to. It was beautiful. That is, until it was interrupted by someone pulling up the curtains that willow tree provided.

"Hey, you're in my spot." Glancing upwards, I saw a girl with pixy hair who looked like a force to be reckoned with. She wore a black tank top with a matching leather jacket, and a ridiculously short skirt, red like her nails. This was all paired off with over the knee socks and (red again) ballet flats. Her glowering eyes made me immediately stand up, wordlessly offering up my seat. I'd find someplace else, it didn't matter.

"Sorry." I was just about to leave when she called out to me. Her eyes softened and she tucked a stray strand of black hair behind her ear, making her look innocent suddenly, rather than intimidating. How someone could change so quickly was anyone's guess, but it made me stand still, awaiting her response.

"I mean I don't normally like people sitting here but I guess I can make an exception. Wanna share?" Not wanting to seem too eager to keep my place under the willow tree, I pretended to take a minute to think about it. Of course, there wasn't really anything to think about, giving her a nod after a couple of seconds, not able to keep it back any longer.

I didn't particularly want to give up my solitude to sit with this girl who looked like she could use me as a tooth pick, but it would be good enough for now.

"Cool."

"Mhm."

"So, I've heard a lot about you but I haven't really heard your name. You're that new kid, right?"

"Uh, yeah. My name's Maisee but no one really seems to care about that. They much prefer the gossip about me over, you know, _actually_ getting to know me." A grin took over her features at my sarcastic response, and I could swear I heard a laugh slip out before she covered it with a well-timed cough.

"So I'm guessing the rumours about you sleeping with Gray are false then?" Before I could formulate a response that left very clear what him and I were most definitely _not_ doing, heat spread from my neck up to my cheeks. I could practically feel my stomach lining blushing.

"Um… _No._ " She let a loud guffaw of laughter – that I would've never expected to hear come from a girl that small (she was smaller than me, somehow) – out as she threw her head back. I stared confusedly at her as she got it out of her system, but when she looked at me again she just laughed. I was starting to think it would never end when she finally got her composure back.

"Oh my god, your face. I'd kill to see that expression again, you were all like-" And then she made a couple of facial expressions at me that I could never see myself making. Unable to hold the grin back any longer, I allowed myself to giggle softly at the ridiculous impression of me she was making. "It was great. See, I knew you were going to be great fun. You shrunk back when I looked at you. It's always the shy girls."

"You hunt for shy girls?" It seemed I once more hadn't gotten an absolutely hilarious joke, the girl laughing again.

"Nah, I actually don't really like friends. They're cumbersome to keep, you know?" Then she leaned forward, as if she were sharing a big secret with me. As I shuffled closer too, I realised how much I was actually enjoying talking to her. Her bubbly laugh and everything's-funny attitude were making my afternoon seem a lot more fun. Also less peaceful, but fun. "I was kind of hoping you'd be anti-social too." She stage-whispered this to me, making a big show of looking around her afterwards as if someone may catch on to her secret. This time, it was my turn to laugh, and I wasn't even ashamed of doing so loudly – it seemed like everything was allowed when talking with her. No rules, no nothing, just fun.

"Oh don't worry, I am." I whispered this back to her, grinning at her pleased expression.

"Good, cause I hope you don't expect me to go out shopping every afternoon. God, I'd kill myself." Remembering the last time I was at the shopping centre with Gray, I could do nothing but agree with her, wholeheartedly.

"So I gave you my name, it's only fair if you give me yours."

"The name's Althea." She then gave me the most vibrant grin I'd ever seen and stuck out her hand, as if I was to shake it. Tentatively, I placed my palm against hers, allowing her to shake my arm so hard it was almost painful. "Althea and Maisee, we make an odd pair, but I think we'll be great friends."

 **Hi :)**

 **Ok guys so today's a very very special day, even though you may not know it yet. I introduced a new character *gasp* Nah, I'm kidding, it isn't** ** _that_** **special xD But I do want to know what you think of Althea, cause I've been thinking of maybe making my next story about her. So give me your thoughts on her :D**

 **Thanks so much for the reviews, I love you all so much. Maybe we can get the review count up to 65 by Thursday? I mean you guys don't have to, but I'm just putting that out there xD**

 **Right, bye bye :)**


	23. Chapter 23

Gray's POV

As I watched Mai- Petal lift her arms slowly, a daisy began winding its way upwards, forming a beautiful a sight. A subconscious smile touched my lips, making me walk over to her to talk to her. Watching her from afar was one thing but to really enjoy Petal's company talking to her was necessary – even if most of her responses came out by force.

"Are you trying to get better control of your ability?" I made sure she saw me standing in front of her before sitting and speaking up. I'd learnt that lesson over the course of the time that she spent with us. She seemed to startle at any surprises no matter how many times I reassured her so this was the best next thing, no surprises at all.

"Yeah." I could tell just by her voice that she was focusing on nature. It was soft, barely audible, and it sent me into the trance it always did, submerging me in tranquillity. I'd never met anyone who had this effect on me but, then again, she was my soulfinder so it was to be expected. But it wasn't anything like I'd imagined though. I thought she'd make me happy, sure, but Petal was making me rethink everything, giving me a beautiful new perspective on life. It was beyond even my wildest imaginings, and then some.

"So, hey, have you given any thought to the whole soulfinder business?" As Petal startled, looking away from the daisy hurriedly, the spell was broken, nature disappearing for me as if it'd never been there. She stared at the ground for a second, seemingly preparing herself for what she was about to do. What that was, I had no idea, but I was praying it would be a positive response, rather than an 'easy let down'. She wouldn't intentionally break my heart, I knew that. She was too much of a kind soul to do that, but if she didn't want this, she'd have to tell me one way or another. And it'd hurt – no matter how she said the words.

"I have, a little bit." At least this was better than all the other times, when she'd coughed and pretended she needed a glass of water.

"And have you come to a decision of any sort?" Her eyes finally left the floor, meeting mine in a wordless conversation. Her features screamed fear… Yet her eyes tod a different story. There _was_ still fear, but also determination. Whatever she was going to say, it was her final decision. She wasn't backing out of this, which scared me witless. If she chose against me… That'd be it for me. I wouldn't ever be able to look at another girl. My life would be over.

"Kind of. I'm willing to give it a shot- That is, if you want to." Once she gave her final decision, she retreated back into her 'let others choose for you', but I'd already gotten what I wanted. She'd said _yes_. For a second I just sat there, trying to let my mind catch up – I couldn't believe that a girl as wonderful, kind and beautiful as Petal had let me into her heart. Especially with how scared she was.

In this moment of silence, all the reasons I loved her bubbled up in my mind. Her laugh. How she always knew exactly what to say to Vince and Maxy to get them happy again. Hell, how she knew what to say to _anyone_ to assure them that they'd be ok in the end. The atmosphere that always surrounded her – that calm that settled over me whenever I looked into her eyes. Which made me remember her eyes, with their depth and their beauty, that endless sea of blue that made me want to be shipwrecked only to be able to lose myself in them for an eternity. I loved every single thing about her.

"Gray?" Shaking my head slightly, I remembered that she'd given me her insecure doubts and that I needed to settle them before they got out of hand.

"I'd love to give life a go with you by my side." Whilst I said this I found myself drowning in her eyes once more – what was soon becoming my favourite pass time. "But seeing how we're not quite ready for that yet, how about we try the next best thing?" She shot me a curious look at this, obviously confused as to what I meant. I used this moment to collect myself, not allowing any part of me to chicken out of doing this. "Will you go out with me?"

Petal's POV

I'd heard a lot about going out with someone during my years at the monsters house. All the other people around me seemed to always be doing it – or complaining about the lack thereof. I hadn't ever been asked, though. But, to be fair, I'd never had the impulse to go out with someone either. The monster had shown me that all of humanity was bad, and back then I believed him wholeheartedly.

That was before I met Gray though. He had opened up my eyes to the possibility of there being good in the world. Not in every heart but certainly in some – like his. And for the first time in my life, I not only saw this, but I also wanted to keep discovering more good in the world, no matter the risk this might pose. So before I could even stop myself, the words left my mouth.

"Yes." And then I did the girliest thing I'd ever done in my life. I giggled into my hands as I blushed bright red, cursing my actions at the same time. He really _had_ changed me in the two months I'd been here. "Of course, yeah." A breath taking smile lit up his features as I said this, and he leaned forward so that our noses were almost touching. This gave me a perfect view of his brown eyes, making me want to melt. They were slightly crinkled at the edges from his genuine smile that I quickly found myself returning.

"Do you mind if I try something?" I shook my head slightly, not wanting him to ever sit back. I would've done anything at that moment to be able to keep getting lost in his eyes. But then something happened, he closed them and he was coming closer. Unsure of what to do, I kept my eyes wide open as he slowly tilted his head to the left, cluing me in on his actions. He was going to kiss me. By this point, I was full-on panicking, but forced myself to calm down. I'd never kissed anyone before due to the monster saying that my lips were too filthy for him, so, at least, it wouldn't bring any trauma to kiss him. Sure, it was different and new and God knew it was the scariest thing I'd done in a while… But did it matter? This wasn't like when the monster violated me, this would be a soft embrace. Tender, not harsh. And if I knew the first thing about Gray it was that if I started having a panic attack over this, he'd help me straight away.

So I closed my eyes too, tilting my head to the right, and moved slightly closer. I counted in my head to try to keep myself calm but hadn't even reached 2 when our lips met. At the contact, my eyes widened in surprise, yet they soon closed again of their own accord, not needing any incentive, this time, to drift shut. I lost myself in the kiss, our lips moving in sync as if we'd been doing it our whole lives. His hands came to rest on my hips as mine lay on his chest and suddenly I realised what it felt like.

It was like coming home.

 **Hi :)**

 **Well, that was eventful xD I hope you all liked their first kiss, I certainly enjoyed writing it :) Also, sorry about Petal being a bit awkward, but she was abused all her life so I didn't think she'd react all that well to a kiss.**

 **Oh my god guys, how amazing are you? You not only beat the 65 review target** ** _on the same day_** **but you also got it to 66 :D So, I was hoping this time we could get it to 70? Oce again, completely optional, but you will make my day if you manage to reach it :)**

 **Anyhowsies, have a wonderful end of the week :)**

 **Bye bye =^.^=**


	24. Chapter 24

Gray's POV

"Hey girl!" Surprised that someone was seemingly shouting that in my direction, I turned my head slowly. The shout was probably not directed at me anyway, no point rushing. However, a quick glance showed that the girl was definitely looking my way, and seemed to be going straight for me. Drawing Petal closer to my side, I glanced in confusion around me, hoping to find I was just standing in front of her friend. Being mistaken for a girl this early on a Monday morning was definitely not on my to-do list.

"Hi." A sigh of relief rushed out of my lips quickly when I saw she had actually been talking to Petal, who was smiling brightly at the girl. I should've noticed earlier that she had been looking at the other girl happily, which would've clued me in greatly on the situation. As she approached, her eyes shifted to the arm I'd put around Pet's waist, so quickly I could've just imagined it. The smile that had been covering her features since I'd first seen her, seemed to tug even wider at the corner of her bright red lips. If I had to be honest, she looked like the opposite type of girl Petal would befriend. She obviously didn't care about what the rest of the school thought about her, and carried herself so confidently that she made Petal dwarf in comparison.

"Not together, eh?" With this she let a loud laugh out, making me startle for a second. She was so small, how was she that loud? The more time I spent around this chick the more confused I got. For starters, why the hell was she questioning my relationship with Petal? I was about to stalk forward to ask her exactly that myself, when Pet put a restraining hand on my arm, never taking her eyes off the girl. She'd been uncannily accurate with what I'd do, making me purse my lips in exasperation. I'd never seen myself as predictable before but Pet had showed me the opposite quite a few times already – and we'd been only been dating for a week. Today had been the first day that she'd let me actually show the rest of the school that I was hers.

"Well… There's been a new development." Petal gave her a shy smile and finally turned to look at me. Remaining next to Petal was paid off as she quickly made eye contact, the warmth in her eyes making me want to kiss her senseless. Reminding myself of the girl's presence in front of us, I shook my head quickly, attempting to remove the sight of her soft lips from my mind.

"So, who's this?"

"Althea, this is Gray, who you've probably guessed by now is my boyfriend." The word sent a pleasant shiver down my spine, it'd been the first time she'd referred to me as such. "And Gray this is my friend Althea." I chanced a quick look up and down, noticing everything in her outfit was either red or black, reminding me of that goth girl I always saw walking around. They were probably the same person but I'd never actually met her. She'd looked pretty intimidating from a distance. It made me question once more how she and Petal had come to be friends in the first place.

"Odd name you got there Althea."

"You're one to talk, _Gray._ " I could already tell she was going to be a lot of work to be around. Petal's eyes were shifting from Althea to me, confusion sprouting in her features, causing a slight frown to form between her brows. I didn't want to upset her but I didn't really want to stay and talk to Althea, whose smile had disappeared, replaced with a standoffish posture and a slight puffing out of her cheeks.

"Right, we need to head off to English. I'll see you at lunch, though. Bye." With a quick smile to Althea and a short hug, she turned back to me, both eyebrows raised as she took my arm and practically dragged me away from Althea. Not that I was complaining, the less time I spent with that girl the better.

"What's wrong?" That obviously wasn't the right thing to say as Petal stopped right in her tracks, glaring me down with what was supposed to be an intimidating squint of her eyes. I had to hold back a smile, knowing she'd just get madder at me.

"What's wrong? Are you kidding me? Gray, Althea's my friend and you two just stared at each other as if you were fighting to the death. What gives?" Before I had a chance to excuse myself with a lame excuse that would save me having to admit that I simply didn't like her friend, she clamped both her hands over her mouth, shaking her head quickly. "No, oh god, just ignore I said any of that, you know I'm always like this when I'm tired."

"What if I don't want to ignore you? Seriously, your dad might've told you that behaviour like that is 'unacceptable' but it's far from that. I love it when you get like this, it's like you're showing me the real you, not the person that your dad constructed for you." Shaking my head slightly, I took her hand back in mine, starting a slow walk back towards English. "So never apologise for stuff like that, please. If it's what you want to say then there's no reason to hide it."

"I… I suppose."

"You don't need to force yourself to say what's on your mind either – just do what makes you happy. If you want to speak up then do. If you don't and feel too shy then don't. But don't let anyone else tell you what you should say."

"I think I like that idea." She finally leaned against my side, looking up and smiling at me. She never said it but I knew she appreciated it when I told her to do whatever she wanted. She sometimes just needed a reminder that it was ok. After all the beatings the asshole had forced her to endure, it was no wonder the thoughts sometimes overtook her. "You know, last week I talked back to the popular crowd." I would've been worried if I hadn't heard the tinge of pride in her voice.

"What did they do to deserve the wrath of P- Maisee?" Only a roll of eyes was met in response to my joke, as she continued to tell the story.

"They were insulting others. I didn't mind them calling me nasty things but… They kind of crossed the line with that one."

"Yeah I can tell. To make you mad, you really need to do something bad." At this, she tugged up the corners of her lips tiredly, despite it not being meant as a compliment. I could tell that in Petal's mind there was nothing worse than becoming horrible to others, due to her father scaring her into thinking the rest of the world was full of monsters and she'd soon become one too. I'd have to make sure to reassure her that she was good, as well as all the other things I tried to tell her daily, like her being beautiful, and loving when she actually told me what she thought.

"Thanks. For… For everything."

 **Hi :)**

 **Wow. Just wow. You guys got up to 70 on the same day I uploaded the chapter? You made my day, I kid you not. You are honestly so amazing, I don't deserve you. But hey, maybe we can get it up to 74 this time? Completely optional, as always.**

 **Ok, so I don't know if you've seen but I've put up Hearing Althea. I know quite a few of you liked her, so tell me what you think! It's based after Fixing Pet, but, obviously, won't contain any spoilers :)**

 **Bye bye!**


	25. Chapter 25

Petal's POV

Tick, tock, tick, tock. The clock kept ticking in the background making a rhythm for me to fall asleep to. I was in class, cheek resting against my hand, and staring dazedly out the window. After those first few weeks in which everyone had seemed interested in me, everything had calmed down, meaning I could do whatever I wanted and no one would look my way. However, that didn't mean I was ok – the nightmares had come back.

Trees leaves swayed in the background, and if I focused I could practically hear the whistle of the wind blowing through them. Sighing, I once again thought of how much I wished I could be out there. Instead, time trickled on inside of this classroom where everything seemed to slow until all that was left was the sound of my heart and the beat of the clock.

The bell rung, but it sounded distant and far away. Almost as if someone else was controlling my body, I shakily got to my feet, making my way to my next classroom. Had I been asked, I wouldn't have been able to tell where I was going, yet somehow I made my way to the English room. Foggy eyed, I saw Althea there.

"You look like a zombie." She laughed. I pulled a face at her, making her giggle even more. I wanted to laugh too, but my lips felt too tight, my mouth too dry, and everything was still too foggy.

"You look like a goth chick." I told her, attempting to make myself look as normal as possible. But I couldn't shake off the feeling that my façade was invisible, and she could see my emotions straight through. I was so tired.

"That's what I was going for." She punctuated this with a wink as we made our way in, making me laugh lightly. Class continued in much the same manner, with me making empty jokes and her making unnecessary remarks, laughing and faking the whole way through. I felt bad for lying to her, but I didn't need all the questions about why I hadn't slept. I wasn't ready to tell anyone about that.

I was having to practically drag my feet by the time lunch rolled around, cursing myself for not catching enough sleep last night. The nightmare had been returning more often lately, this time including Gray and Sky leaving with my mum, glaring at me when I'd attempted to follow them out the door. I'd felt small, so small, just like when I'd been at the monster's house. I'd been unable to sleep for the rest of the night after waking up, the feeling squeezing my chest too hard to ignore.

What always got to me was the look on Gray's face. He told me that the only reason he had stayed was because the soulfinder bond meant he couldn't live without me, but that he couldn't take it anymore. In the background I always heard wind howling, and thunder clouds rolling through the sky. But even that wasn't enough to distract me from the way the hateful words formed on his lips. Nor the way his eyes opened wide as if he was staring at freedom, rather than a stormy, cold night.

Shaking my head to forget all the thoughts of Gray leaving me out of my head, I started the small ascent up the hill where the willow has spread its roots. Before I reached it however, I was stopped in my tracks by someone shouting my name from lower down. Too tired to startle out of my daze, I glanced tiredly behind me, not even having the energy to properly turn around. How I'd managed to survive this long without collapsing was anyone's guess.

"Gray? What're you doing here?"

"I just came to ask you if you wanted to go out to lunch. Maybe we could go out to that ice cream parlour nearby." As he looked at me from the bottom of the hill, all I could see were his eyes, full of shimmering hope and bitter hate. I didn't want to leave Althea but some ice cream right now to wake me up _would_ feel good. And I needed to forget all about that look on his face, which I never wished to see again. So I made the 'wait a minute' sign and rushed up the hill. I went much faster than I thought was possible considering I was working with last supplies of energy, and quickly made it to the willow tree. Althea was already sat underneath it, patiently waiting for me whilst pensively chewing on a lollipop. She was a fan of candy, that was for sure.

"Hey hey." I greeted, my eyelids already drooping. Forcing them open, I tried to appear as normal as possible. The look she gave me told me she didn't believe me one bit, but she kept talking, much to my relief.

"Sup?" If I had been fully awake, I would've answered with some of the replies I had learnt from Gray's brothers ('the ceiling' 'the sky' 'the sun'), but my tired brain couldn't conjure the words I needed, so I went for the response I knew how to say. It was as if my tongue and mind refused to collaborate, everything getting twisted and knotted in the middle.

"Not much. Hey, do you mind if I go out with Gray for lunch? I'm really craving some mint choc chip ice cream." She simply raised her eye brows at me, making me want to immediately take my words back and sit down next to her, forgetting anything had even happened. But her incredulous expression melted into amusement quickly, saving me the embarrassment of having to change my mind. Ever since that day in which Gray had told me to be happy, I'd decided to give it a shot. I was starting to feel safer and safer to do as I wished, but there were still moments of panic in which I thought that Gray had made 'being happy' sound a lot more easier than it was.

"Honeymoon faze, huh?" She then rolled her eyes, but made it apparent that she was joking by throwing the lollipop wrapper at my head. I tossed it back at her.

"Have fun." Smiling, I went to turn around, when her shout called me back. I practically sighed in exasperation. I loved Althea dearly, yet my weary body was too exhausted to keep up with the excited pace of her conversations.

"I will, but don't you have too much fun alright?" The last thing I saw before I closed the curtain of leaves was her winking at me, amusement swirling in her eyes, and booming laughter following me down the hill. I'd never get used to her loud laughs but I had to admit I liked them, it showed she wasn't afraid to be happy, regardless of what the rest of the world thought. I wish I could be like that.

"Ready to go?" Gray asked the question as I approached him. I didn't bother with a response, simply nodding and crouching down to pick up my books from where I'd dumped them to make an easier route to the top. Before I could even graze them from my fingertips, He'd snatched them out from under me, holding them over his head playfully. He'd done this a lot lately, and I had the faint idea that it was to get me to snap at him. I didn't understand why he liked it when I did that, but what I did know was that he enjoyed it a lot more than should be healthy. I think it made him believe that I was 'getting better', and I didn't know if I'd be able to take seeing him sad if I were to tell him that that wasn't the case. That I still startled out of my skin every time someone yelled, and fearful of people hitting me should I talk back to them. I'd just gotten better at hiding it. Or, maybe, that's what progress was.

"Give those back." The demand sounded half-hearted even to my own ears. Really I just wanted to curl up into a ball and sleep.

"Nope." After this I knew he expected me to huff and try to reach them – which would never happen, I was too short – but I just kept making my way to the parking lot. Catching my weird behaviour, he jogged up to me, quickly catching up and stopping me by grabbing my elbow. "Are you ok?" He cast a glance around checking there was no one around before using my real name. "Petal?"

"Yeah, fine, just a little tired, that's all." That was putting it lightly, but he seemed content with my response, holding hands with me as we walked to the car. Getting into locked space with him had stopped being a problem when he promised to always leave the door unlocked, and to stop if I asked him to. Now, every time I was able to reign in the panic at the thought of going into a car, I smiled. It made my heart soar to think that someone would know me well enough to be able to help me fight off the panic attacks I'd never been able to before.

We talked about non-consequential things until we got to the door, me having to struggle several times to remind myself to keep focused on the conversation. My drooping eyelids and sagging shoulders were a constant reminder of my need for a bed, distracting me from the topic at hand. It was difficult to even answer his questions enthusiastically enough to not raise suspicion.

"What do you want?" We were still holding hands and I was leaning against his side, fighting against my eyes to keep them open after every blink. Gray had asked the question, looking at me, but I could tell he was more confused about the way I was leaning on him, rather than my choice of ice cream.

"Uh… mint choc chip will do." He ordered his ice cream as well, and as he took out his wallet, I made an excuse about finding a table to get a few minutes of uninterrupted silence. I was going to fall if I didn't sit down soon, the battle against my brain to stay awake getting harder by the minute. Rubbing my eyes as I took a seat in a baby blue and pink booth, I leaned heavily against the padded fabric, smiling as it nestled me in. I'd never felt more comfortable in my life, a yawn coming out of my mouth. For the first time in the whole day, I simply gave up on the battle, waving my metaphorical white flag without even realising it.

 **Hi :)**

 **Sorry if this has any mistakes, but I'm about to go to school so I don't have time to check it :/ Ok, I need to make this quick but thanks for meeting the target! Tbh every time I set it I think that there is no way I'll be able to meet it and then you guys do! And you make my heart soar, I'm not even kidding. How about 78 for next time? No pressure, obviously, just feel free to help if you want to :)**

 **Also, to the Guest who's reviewed loads and has asked for me to make longer chapters, I hope this is good :) It's 1900 words so not my longest but it's getting there :) I'll give you an even longer one next week, I promise ;)**

 **Bye bye :)**


	26. Chapter 26

Gray's POV

Placing Petal's ice cream in front of her carefully I started rattling on about how it was nice to get out of school, even if it was for a little while. When I got no response, I looked away from my vanilla scoop, to find that she wasn't even facing my direction. Frowning in confusion, I shook her shoulder, unsure as to what was going on. She had her back to me and was curled up into a little ball. It hardly looked comfortable so it didn't make sense why she was in the position.

"Pet? What the hell?" She mumbled something in response but it hardly sounded like words, making me tug her shoulder away from the seat. When I finally saw her closed eyelids it all made sense – how she'd been so out of it before, and how she hadn't even tried to argue when I'd paid for her ice cream. She'd been really tired these last couple of days but I'd thought it was her fault, that she'd just stayed up reading up to the wee hours of the night. That didn't look like the case though, not if she was this tired. Glancing from her to our ice cream quickly, I made a decision that would get us both in trouble but that would at least get Petal some sleep. Sighing into my hands I grabbed both our lunches in my hands, taking them up to the counter.

"Can I help you?"

"Hi, yeah, I know I said we'd be eating these here but my girlfriend fell asleep. Can you make these to go?" The bored twenty year old woman behind the counter looked like that was the last thing she wanted to do, but she begrudgingly nodded, making her displeasure known as she scooped them into to-go containers. Glad that that was solved, I went back to Pet, telling her to wake up for a second. She opened her eyes blearily, looked at me in confusion, and deciding I obviously wasn't worth her attention and falling back to sleep.

Rolling my eyes at how adorable she was, I picked her up, making a quick stop at the counter to pick up our ice cream before marching over to the parking lot. I placed her in the passenger seat, and once again had to force myself not to smile like an idiot. I'd never seen anyone look more like an angel in my life. Her long eyelashes brushed against her cheekbones as her lips rose in an involuntary smile, her soft hair around her like a halo of light. I wanted to stay like that for ever, looking at the happy expression that was incredibly rare whilst she was awake, but soon realised I needed to drive her home.

The drive to my house was quick, but I was afraid of moving her in case I woke her – not to mention mom would be furious. Dad worked at the slopes so he wouldn't be there to tell me off, but mom stayed at home and painted, meaning I was in for a good telling off.

Sighing for what felt like the twentieth time already that day, I got to work, opening her door as quietly as possible. I placed her back into my arms, going sluggishly slow, but she didn't seem to even notice that she was being moved. A soft sigh escaped her mouth, and she pressed her face against my chest, making me smile even more broadly. It was stupid for me to feel so happy at simply being around a girl, but she wasn't just _a_ girl. She was _the_ girl, the only one that truly mattered. Hence why I was risking getting my ass kicked my mum in order to get her to have a good night's sleep.

As I made my way to the front door, I speculated about what it might be. I hoped it wasn't nightmares. Her father had hurt her so much in the past, and now he had to haunt her dreams even when he wasn't here? Knowing I shouldn't be thinking about this around Petal, as it always scared her half to death when I threatened to punch his guts out, I moved my eyes back down to her small form. It calmed me straight away, and I smiled softly – once again all my thoughts were occupied by this beautiful angel, and not the asshole who had done her so much wrong.

"Gray? What are you-" Mum opened the door as I hastily knocked. However, she stopped her angry yelling when she noticed the girl in my arms, still asleep. She must've seen my distressed aura, because she rolled her eyes, motioning for me to come inside. "Just this once, alright?" She whispered in my ear, before making her way back into her art study. I knew I'd have to explain later, but for now I was safe from her wrath.

Going up the stairs was difficult, as there seemed to be walls everywhere to crash Petal's feet into. Luckily, she was incredibly out of it, although I felt my hands clench at the thought. Whatever had made her lose her sleep had done it well, and I was willing to bet it was her asshole of a dad. I was going to kill him one day. Sighing, I shook those thoughts off, and continued the ascent to my bedroom. Her eyes fluttered open a few times, but they looked dazed and happy, as if she was having the best dream known to man, so I left her be.

Without thinking about it much, I took her to my bedroom, not really knowing why or how it happened. What I did know though was that I couldn't get into bed with her. Every part of me screamed to take her into my arms to fight off any nightmares which might plague her sleep, but I couldn't do that to her. She was still so scared of humans, although it was a lot more subconscious now. She held my hand, but sometimes she flinched away from my touch, even though she didn't notice. Laying her on my bed, I went to sit on my desk. At least if I was sat here I'd know if she was ok. That was the only thought which could keep me sane right now.

Soon though, the duvet started twisting around her legs, her turning and shuffling increasing. I shook it off, knowing it was probably just a figment of my imagination to be able to get into bed with her. But then she left out a quiet moan, and my ideals all disappeared at once.

"No. No please. Gray, mummy, please. Please. No!" It was so low that I would've missed it had I not been listening so intently. Without knowing what I was doing, I was suddenly striding across the room, taking her hand in mine. And yet still she continued to shift until her eyes opened, frantic and pleading. I'd never seen her look so heartbroken. "Please don't leave me." She whispered, although I didn't know if she was saying it to me or to her dream. Hey eyes were glassy, looking haunted and lost to this world.

"I won't." I climbed into bed beside her, pulling her into my chest. I tried to keep my touch soft, so she wouldn't feel trapped by my embrace, but I still felt my arms tightening around her small form. I needed to know that she was here, and I felt my body ache with the need to let her know that I was here for her. "I never will."

Petal's POV

"Huh?" Opening my eyes blearily, I squinted, trying to protect my eyes from the light around me. After a couple of seconds, they adjusted, allowing me to see a white ceiling with light blue walls. It wasn't my bedroom, that much was obvious, but where was I then? I was lying on top of a bed so the number of places I could be in weren't that many. And then I noticed the arms around me, holding me to someone's chest. I went rigid, unable to think of a situation which would have me in this position. Everything was hazy and I'd had the best sleep I'd experienced in a while, but for the life of me I couldn't remember making my way to a bed.

Unless the monster had found me. Springing up I moved to stick my back to the wall in one fluid movement. Instinct kicked in as my breathing sped up. Thoughts of all those years of torture flooded my mind, and I couldn't stop a shiver from overtaking me. I felt small and vulnerable, my only defence the wall behind me and my hands in front. I looked around, surveying my surroundings with adrenalin in my veins and fear in my heart. But this all stopped when I saw Gray looking at me, concern on his features.

The fear left me in a swooshing motion, leaving only a bitter taste in my mouth. My heart continued pumping loudly in my ears, making it hard to focus on anything but my stomach tying itself into knots. I slumped into the wall, yet I was still defenceless. I still only had the wall and my hands, but for some reason I felt safe.

"Petal? Are you ok?" He sat up slightly, leaning on his elbow. He looked so worried that I immediately pushed off the wall, knowing he wouldn't hurt me. I wished I wasn't like this, so scared and frail and unable to wake up somewhere that wasn't my room without freaking out. But more than anything I wished this feeling in my chest would disappear, the one that kept whispering that the monster was still out there, and that I was still as weak as ever.

"Yup. Yeah, sorry." Trying to play it down, I went over to sit on the edge of the bed. But a thought that I was mulling over didn't allow me to really concentrate on Gray. I hadn't dreamt that night. Not about him leaving me, and certainly not about the monster. I felt more refreshed than I'd been in so long, and after that secondary freak out, I felt safe again. Gray was safe, everything about him inspiring confidence in me. My heart continued to race, but I could breathe, and everything was ok because Gray was here.

"What happened to make you freak out so much?" As he sat on the edge, I relaxed into him, allowing him to put his arm around my waist. I simply shrugged, not wanting to talk about the mess that my mind was. Lately that's all I ever did, hiding how I felt in order to look strong. But I never would be.

"I didn't recognise where I was. That always sets off alarm bells."

"Oh, yeah, I forgot you'd never been to my bedroom before. Which is odd, considering I've been in yours plenty of times." Noticing him trying to edge away from the question of why I was in his bedroom to begin with, I stopped his ramblings. The monster was fresh in my mind, his green eyes piercing me with his stare, but I pushed it all back to focus on the present. I wanted to know why I was in Gray's room, or, at least, I should've wanted to know. I didn't care now that I was in his arms, now that I was away from the monster, but I pushed that thought back until all that remained was my query about why I was here.

"What am I doing here? I don't remember anything since… Oh my god, the ice cream." I went to get off the bed, the adrenalin that still lingered in my veins urging me to do something. At this, he chuckled, tightening his arm around me so I couldn't jump up in panic. Yet I still felt nervous, his embrace being the only thing rooting me to my spot on Earth. Had it not been for him, I would still be having trouble getting air into my lungs, the monster's face clouding all judgement. The mere thought of him coming for me sent my spine tingling. I clutched Gray tighter to me.

"Don't worry, it's sitting in the fridge." His voice startled me out of my train of thought, as I remembered we were talking about pointless ice cream. I must've looked perplexed; he hurried to continue his sentence. "You fell asleep."

"Are you telling me that I fell asleep on our _first_ date? You've got to be kidding me." The image of me falling asleep in the middle of a crowded area where he could've found me at any time made me burry my head in his chest, willing the idea to go away along with all the nightmares he'd taken. Trying to distract myself from it all, I quickly glanced at the bedside table which told me it was 9pm and that it was much too late to go back and try to salvage the date. Not to mention I'd missed half the school day. This all didn't help calm my nerves any further.

"Well I don't think it counts as our first date. I was actually hoping… Kind of, I guess," he stopped to rub the back of his head awkwardly as I watched in confusion. Why was he so nervous all of a sudden? As I looked into his eyes, the melted chocolate of them pulling me in, I felt myself abandoning all the other thoughts. No more monster, nor school, nor ice cream in the fridge. None of those things mattered when I was looking at him. He existed, and so did I – everything would be ok. He looked nervous, and for now that's all I could think of, the fact that my wonderful boyfriend was here with me, enough so that we could have a normal conversation with normal feelings. The endearing expression on his face softened as he saw me staring at him, dipping down to kiss my cheek. "That we could maybe go on a date now?"

 **Hi :)**

 **Guys we reached the target again! Oh my god this is too good, I swear one of these days I'm just going to have a heart attack from happiness :P Also, thanks so much for reading and reviewing, it's honestly the best part of my day, no joke.**

 **This chapter is the longest ever, which is actually a really impressive feat for me because I have the attention span of a fly xD But, yeah, it's 2400 words, so I hope you all enjoy it :) Maybe we can get to 82 reviews this time? I think it's already a given that you don't need to do it, seeing how I've already said it loads, but I just wanna say it again to make sure :)**

 **Bye bye! =^.^=**


	27. Chapter 27

"But it's dark already." I didn't want to have to explain to him how I'd developed a fear of going out at night since I'd spent two weeks out on the streets. It would have to happen at some point but I was too comfortable in his arms to try to unearth my subconscious. "Although I guess that'd be ok." I'd just have to make sure not to separate too much from him - maybe having someone with me would make it better. In any case, I still wanted to go out with him, so it wasn't like the evening out would be torture. At least, that's what I tried to tell myself as I left his room to go get ready to leave for our date.

Changing into a skirt and a tank top, I put my hair up loosely, allowing a few strands to fall out of the pony tail. Back at my old house I never put my hair up, it making me feel too exposed. I'd learnt to be ok with that lately though. Gray had also freshened up, wearing a button up blue shirt with jeans. If i hadn't been so preoccupied with the darkness looming over us, I would've been able to appreciate how nice he looked in it, his lean but slightly muscled frame making me smile at the thought that he was mine. I'd never been able to say that about anyone, and it felt good. No, better than good, it set off a chain reaction of warmth to spread throughout my stomach and chest.

Soon we were heading downstairs, me feeling more and more tense the closer to the front door we got.

"Pet are you sure you wanna do this? You don't look like you do."

"It's… Fine. Completely. I'm just a little bit scared of going out when it's dark." We'd gotten to the front door, making me swallow nervously. I hadn't wanted to confess my fear but I really didn't want to go out there, where the monsters lurked.

"How about we hold hands? That way, if someone tries to do something to you, they'll have to go through me first." That sounded like as good a suggestion as any, but I was still mortified. What if they tried to do something to him? I wouldn't be able to protect him, I wasn't strong enough. And i didn't think he was strong enough to fight grown men with weapons either. At the expression of hesitance that was probably written all over my features, he let go of the doorknob. "Ok, so no outside then. Our options are the kitchen or the living room."

"I've an idea. We can binge out on ice cream tonight and just go on our date tomorrow morning." I'd detected the hint of dejection in his eyes when he'd said we could have a date in his house. It was obvious he wanted to do something special, and I didn't want to spoil that for him just because of my fear. We could just wait until the next day when everything would be much better.

"Sounds like a plan."

Half an hour later, there was a movie playing in the background and we were breaking the Guinness world record for nicest dressed people having a movie marathon. Neither of us had changed and I didn't mind, even if I was sure anyone would be able to see my pants if they made an appearance. My knees were curled up into my chest as I looked at the Tv with rapt attention. I wasn't sure what Gray was doing, although whatever it was it certainly wasn't watching the movie. He seemed to be shifting in his spot and every once in awhile he'd stretch his arms out, but then stopped halfway through the yawn and put his hands back down immediately.

"Do you want me to bring you a blanket?" He whispered this in my ear, as I nodding distractedly, hearing him leave the room. He came back quickly, so i put my knees down and leaned against his side, cuddling under the blanket. For what must've been the fifth time that night, his arms went over his head. This time though, he didn't jolt them back, instead slowly drifting them back so one was draped over my shoulder. I had to stifle a giggle, the whole situation amusing me a lot more than it should've. He'd been trying to make a move this whole night even though he'd had an arm wrapped around me not even an hour ago. I'd tease him for being shy but, really, I wasn't one to talk.

"Hey Gray?"

"Yeah?" Dragging my eyes away from the screen, I turned to him, placing a kiss on his cheek.

"Thanks for understanding about the date." He was blushing bright red as he smiled at me. In response, he kissed me, making my eyes widen in surprise, just like during our first kiss. I soon relaxed though, kissing him back. The movie was all but forgotten, him pushing me on my back and leaning on his elbow so as to not crush me. I knew what making out was but had never imagined it could feel this good. His hand drifted lightly over my stomach as I wrapped my arms around his neck, trying to pull him impossibly closer. Breaking apart for air, he leaned his forehead against mine. We were both breathing heavily, our chests touching with every rise and fall, and I was pretty sure it was now me who was blushing.

He crashed our lips together again, and everything was right in the world. His hand brushed lightly over my hip, tracing the curve there and causing my tank top to ride up. But, suddenly, it wasn't him anymore.

The hand was no longer gentle, instead grabbing me with too much force. Pinning me underneath him, the monster stared at me with his green eyes and sardonic smile. I was back in his house, trapped by four walls and a body, but I couldn't do anything. I kept trying to move, but he simply gripped me tighter to him. Fear reverberated in my chest, sending me screaming in terror. I didn't want this. He couldn't be back.

" _Don't worry Petal, the pain will be over soon. Just be a good girl for me."_ I started struggling more, wanting to get his body away from mine. Walls caved in on me, my breath becoming too shallow to even scream anymore. It was as if they were pressing down into my lungs, not allowing me to so much as get a full breath into them. I kicked furiously, knowing it would just make it worse but not knowing what else to do. Colours swam in front of my eyes, greens and black and blues all merging together, until I didn't understand what was happening or who I was or why.

"Please listen to me baby, please. It's just me, Gray. I love you." The voice called out to me, but my hazed brain twisted the words so they didn't make sense anymore. They were a low growl in my ears, the monster telling me to get down or I'd get a harsher beating tonight. Nothing made sense, it was all simply a blur of emotions and colours that I couldn't decipher. Except for one: fear. And green, the green of his eyes overtaking me with their vibrant hate.

And then the memory wasn't there anymore, all shattering and falling away from me in crystal fragments. I was back on the soft couch, with Gray cradling me to his chest. I had tears in my eyes, but I was safe again. Sobbing, I wrapped my arms around his neck, willing his comforting words to take effect.

"Sh, it's ok baby, I'm here." What he was saying continued to wash over me, not fully registering in my mind, but still managing to leave a calm feeling in my chest. "I love you, and I'm never going to leave, ok? I'm here. I'm here." Burrowing myself further into him, I let my eyes drift of their own accord. I was so tired again, even after sleeping for so long.

"Gray?" I asked, it coming out shaky due to the dryness of my throat. He hummed in response, tightening his arms around me. And I couldn't help but wonder how I'd confused him for the monster. His embrace didn't feel suffocating. He didn't smell of booze and broken dreams. He wasn't a monster – he was home. "I'm sorry."

"Don't you dare apologise Pet. God I'm the one who should be saying sorry, I should've known that you'd be scared."

"I don't want to be fragile and scared anymore." The knot in my throat tightened, forcing me to have to fight tears out of my eyes. "I want to be the girl you deserve."

"Don't you see? You're more than I deserve, you're perfect. And, yes you sometimes get scared, but don't we all? You're only human Pet, don't beat yourself up about it."

"You're too nice." My mumble was barely audible, his shirt and my tears muffling out the sound, yet he managed to hear. He laughed humourlessly, the action making his chest vibrate under me.

"You're one to talk." Kissing my head, he slid us down the couch until we were laying down again, me still held tightly in his chest. "Let's just sleep here." Sighing in contempt, I rubbed my cheek against his shoulder, wanting him to know how happy I was, right here, in his arms. The bitter taste in my mouth from the panic attack still lingered, and I still had tears accumulating in my eyes, but that didn't matter when I had him with me. All I could see was his shoulder, the line of his mouth, his cheeks, his neck, him, him, him. And I never wanted it to be any other way.

 **Hi :)**

 **Sorry for the sad chapter, I actually wanted them to just have a cuddle session, but then I realised that Petal's mind would probably not take too nicely to being so close to someone. And this chapter was born! I'm so sorry for putting you through that misery Pet xD**

 **Guys. Holy crud sticks (look at my ace cursing skills). Guys. Seriously oh my freaking god. Do you realise how amazing you are? We passed the target last time, and you guys got me more reviews than I've ever gotten for a chapter :O I'm not gonna lie, I did a happy dance xD Ok, so how about we try to reach 87? Completely optional, of coursies.**

 **Bye bye! =^.^=**


	28. Chapter 28

"You ready to go?" Gray looked at me with a grin on his face, stretching his hand out to me. Biting my lip, I felt my nerves over this rushing up my spine. My stomach was in knots, and I felt everything but ready, yet I still let him take my hand in his. His smile became even bigger, as if I had offered him the moon and the stars, which melted my angst ever so slightly.

"Where are we going anyway?" I asked, trying to force my mind to forget about this being our first date.

"I already told you, it's a surprise."

"Aw, come on." Nudging his shoulder with my own, I felt my heart skip a beat. I didn't feel prepared for something to go wrong and for him to decide to leave. First dates were supposed to be magical, what if I couldn't offer him that? There were so many things we hadn't done yet that I wanted us to experience together, and yet all those opportunities of wonderful moments could be ruined in the next couple of hours.

"Nope, you're just gonna have to wait." He kissed my cheek and then towed me down the path beside his house. This gave me the indication that we'd be going somewhere in the forest, which helped ease the tension in my heart. Nature was my territory, so far nothing bad had happened to me whilst I was there.

"Damn." I said this, but I think we could both tell that I wasn't really upset over it. The worry consuming me didn't allow me to feel anything other than fear.

"By the way, have I said already that you look beautiful?"

"Several times, yes." Laughing at his antics, a little more of my worry ebbed away. He wrapped an arm around my waist, pulling me tightly to him. I'd never felt more at home, with his heartbeat thudding underneath my ear, his chest rumbling as he spoke about one thing or another, and the smell that was just Gray surrounding me. More fear faded, and I finally allowed myself to relax against his side.

"Oh, hey, we're here." Looking up from his chest, I found we'd made our way up a small hill. From here all that we could see were trees, and deep oranges that were fading to red from the sunset in front of us. The tip of his house was visible, along with a few others, but I ignored them, pretending we were on top of the world where nothing exists apart from nature and us. "Do you like it?"

Unable to answer his question, my mouth just gaped open like a fish. It was a breath taking sight, the sunset making it all the more magical. The snow reflected in orange hues and trees seemed to glow. And in our small clearing where nothing was real, a picnic blanket lay, with two tubs of ice cream. Mint choc chip for me, and chocolate for him.

"I used to come here a lot to see the sunset, when everything got a little too much. I thought you might like it. But if you want to go someplace else that's cool too."

"What, no, I… I love it. This is all so beautiful."

"Sorry it doesn't seem overly prepared, but I wanted to make a reference to our attempt at a first date with the ice cream." Slapping his arm lightly, I turned my eyes away from the beautiful sight and instead on my amazing soulfinder.

"Don't you dare apologise for doing something as great as this for me." Without either one of us noticing, we'd moved our heads closer, and were now standing together. Our noses touched and then he was crashing his lips onto mine. No more worries, nor fears over this date. Because we were Petal and Gray, and we were meant to be. I couldn't screw this up, nothing could.

"I am pretty great, aren't I?"

"Modest too." I slapped him again on the arm, but he just held tighter onto my waist, making butterflies explode in my stomach. "Come on, let's go enjoy our ice cream." Sitting down, each wrapped up in the other, we looked up at the beautiful sunset, basking in it together. I'd never felt as content as I did then, as if the world could be ripped out from under me and I'd still be ok.

"Hey Pet, I've been thinking."

"Yeah?"

"How've you been feeling lately?" And then he lowered his volume, almost as if he was afraid to say the words at all. "Do you… Do you still think you're worthless?" Taking in a shuddering breath, I felt his question wash over me, the feeling of calm being taken out from my chest as if it had never existed.

"I—No. Sometimes? I don't know Gray, it isn't something that simply goes away." I hadn't thought about myself in that way for an incredibly long time now, but it wasn't like the underlying thought wasn't still there. It was just not actively influencing my decisions anymore, but the whisper would always be there.

"How can I make it go away?"

"Gray…"

"No, tell me. Don't 'Gray' me, just tell me what I can do to make it go away."

"You can't."

"There's always something." My chest tightened, all of those feelings I hadn't had to revisit in so long making a comeback in my mind. I didn't want any of them there, in the forefront, stuck on repeat.

"There isn't. Just you being here is enough." Spinning me around, I went from sitting on his lap to straddling him, so he could take a better look at my glistening eyes and tight lips.

"What do you mean?"

"There's never just one action that you can do to fix something like this. It's just… It's always going to be there, but you being by my side helps. You drive all the awful thoughts away with your kind words." Without allowing him a chance to respond, I brought our lips together in a chaste kiss. "The longer we spend together, the closer I feel we're getting to spending forever together."

"We're already there." And with no other words needed, He flipped us over so I was lying down and he was over me, and we looked into each other's eyes. So many emotions were whizzing between us that it was hard to tell one apart from the other. And suddenly they were materialised in a soft embrace that didn't need a kiss or words to speak volumes. We'd always be there for the other.

Gray and Petal. Petal and Gray. It was hard, but we'd work it out in the end.

 **Hi :)**

 **I am so so so sorry that this is a week late. I've been a little overwhelmed lately by exam pressure and stuff (can you believe they've moved the exams to earlier because of Ramadan? I'm kind of dying), and have just not been able to write this chapter up. I know it's ridiculously overdue, and that it isn't that long, but I hope you guys liked it. It's their first date! *Squee***

 **Thanks so much to my reviewers :) Guys we made the target again! Can I get a whoop whoop? Ok, maybe not xD Do you think we can make 91? Which btw, I've organised the Finding Sky archive by reviews and we're almost on the first page guys! Just a little bit more :) Oh and I thought I would tell you that I think this story is going to be around 40 chapters long, hopefully we'll make it that far! Thank you all so much for supporting me so far, I really wouldn't have gotten here without you all :)**

 **Bye bye :)**


	29. Chapter 29

Petal's POV

Sitting on the edge of my bed, I sighed into my hands, wondering if I could do this. We were celebrating Christmas, everyone getting extremely excited about it – and for a few weeks I'd been happy too. I'd never had a family to spend the holidays with so it was an incredible new experience I couldn't wait to see for myself. That is, until I found out that the rest of the Benedicts were invited.

I could already hear them talking loudly downstairs. It sounded like 30 people had been stuffed into the small living room. As if my anxiety around new people wasn't enough, they also had to make it crowded. I was in for several panic attacks today, I could tell as much already.

A soft knock on the door startled me out of my train of thought, making me glance up worriedly. Had they already come up to drag me downstairs?

"Pet? Are you ok?" A sigh of relief escaped me when I saw it was Gray standing at the doorway. I simply smiled and nodded, beckoning him to come into the room. I knew he wouldn't take me anywhere I didn't want to go, so at least I was safe for now.

"Yeah, fine. I hear the party's in full swing now."

"Mhm, Auntie Crystal and uncle Xav were the last to arrive with the kids cause they got stuck in a traffic jam coming here from New York."

"Oh, it's good that they could at least make it before it got dark." I was speaking more about my own opinion than anything else. I would have hated being stranded in the middle of a traffic jam after the sun went down. Night time was when the monsters came out to play. However, it didn't really mean that it was good – it just meant that I'd be taken to socialise sooner, which I was trying to avoid at all cost.

"Yeah. I brought you a flower." Smiling at me, he placed a blue flower in my hands.

"Where'd you find this?" I asked curiously, twirling it distractedly between my fingers. It was such a beautiful colour, radiant and alive even though it had been cut from its roots. So I tucked it behind my ear, not caring that it wasn't the same colour as my dress and that Sky might kill me for it later. At my action, Gray's smile widened, despite the fact the fact that I hadn't believed that to be possible moments before.

"A flower shop. It might surprise you to know these don't grow in Colorado in the middle of winter." Hitting him for his bad joke, I let my hand rest on his chest after the action. He grabbed it, joy seeming to radiate off of him in waves. For that second we simply stood there, and I could pretend that I wasn't real and he wasn't real and all of this was just a tumbling weed lost in the desert of time. But that wasn't true. This moment was important - I was about to meet his whole family - and pretending could only get me so far.

"You're such an idiot." I whispered, afraid to break the moment.

"And yet you still date me." There was mirth in his eyes, making my chest expand. Yes there were thirty odd people waiting for me downstairs, but here it was just him and me, and nothing could touch us.

"Yeah."

"We're all ready for you to make your big entrance." And just like that, it was shattered. At this I grimaced, Gray obviously catching the expression on my face. He didn't grab my hand to take me downstairs, instead put an arm around my waist as I leaned on him. "You don't want to go though, do you?"

"Not at all."

"Well, come on, tell me why not and I'll try to fix it." I wanted to hit him round the head for that comment whilst at the same time I felt the urge to coo at him for his never ending loyalty to others. He really would go to the furthest extremes to help those he loves. I felt my heart breaking a little at the thought of having to tell him that he couldn't fix it, unless he was willing to kick his whole family out on _Christmas_. I refused to be that selfish.

"I don't have good enough presents for everyone." Making up a quick excuse, I sighed in relief when I saw the anxiety melt straight off his features. He'd been worried I'd be scared to meet his family, that much was obvious. I felt too bad about putting that fear back in his eyes by revealing that my statement was only a half-truth. So I didn't. I just kept spinning my web of lies, with enough truths to appear to be the truth. "I don't know your aunts and uncles well enough so I just got all the women nice smelling soap and bath bombs and the men scarves with gloves but… God what if they're not good enough, Gray?"

"Hey, don't worry about it too much. Christmas is about spending it in family, not about the presents. I'm sure they'll be thankful that you bought them anything at all – especially with your badly paying job." He shot me a playful glare which I just shook off. I'd been working at Sainsbury's after school to pay off my debt to the Benedicts but none of them were exactly happy about it. In fact, Gray had begged me every time I went off to work to just quit, saying that his family liked treating me as one of their own. I never listened anymore, telling him the excuse I always did.

"You _know_ I like being able to thank you guys this way – stop whinging about it." I'd become a lot more forward in these past months about my opinions, and it felt so liberating that I couldn't stop myself from doing it. I hadn't ever been able to imagine finding happiness from standing up to others, but it felt like I was simply expressing my opinion. Before, I'd thought I wouldn't be able to do it, as that might mean getting hurt or hurting others, but now I was realising that wasn't true at all.

"Well, it was worth a shot-"

"You mean just like the time before? And the time before that? And-"

"Shh, let me continue." He placed his finger on my lips, rolling his eyes at me with a smile. I grinned back, placing my own hand over his mouth and talking around his finger.

"Nope, if I can't talk you can't either." Instead of being deterred by my actions he just kissed my palm, removing it from his mouth. He knew what he was doing to me with the unexpected kiss, turning my insides into mush, and was perfectly aware that he wouldn't meet any resistance. "You're gonna be the death of me one of these days." Once again not letting what I was saying affect him, he entwined our fingers.

"And don't you know it." With this he sent a wink my way, making the butterflies in my stomach develop rabies. When he removed his spell from over me he was going to have an earful about shutting me up with his charming wit. "Are you sure you don't want to go down?" I started shaking my head, but he stopped me before I could fully transmit my point, seemingly having a great idea. "Mum's put flower vases everywhere, and you could totally just concentrate on the roses if you're feeling too crowded. I know you get into a sort of state of meditation when you focus on nature. So just do that if you're feeling close to a panic attack."

"I don't know Gray I mean- Wait did you say panic attack? How did you know that that was why I didn't want to go down?" Looking at me with despair, and an expression I'd been catching in his eyes too often – but that I remained unable to identify – he slowly brought his lips to mine.

"Because I love you, you thick headed walnut."

 **Hi :)**

 **This chapter was so fun to write guys, like seriously. He finally said it :D I've been planning to have him say I love you for ages now but just didn't know how, but here we have it, I finally managed to get my life together xD**

 **We didn't make the target last time, unfortunately :( But that's ok, I still got some lovely reviews that made me happy all the same :) Also I've decided to start a new policy where I'll update chapters on Monday and Thursday still but f you guys make it to the target before then I'll be posting the chapter early :D This chapter's target is... Hm, let's say 93, do you guys think we can make it this time? Obviously completely optional.**

 **Bye bye :)**


	30. Chapter 30

"W-what?" I was staring at him in shock, tears gathering in my eyes as I thought of what he'd just told me. The butterflies in my stomach were turning completely wild, this time joined by a rapidly beating heart and an impulse to kiss him again. Bringing our lips close, I deepened the kiss, wanting to transmit how I felt to him. That I _knew_ in my heart that I felt the same but that my head had a hard time believing it. That I was still afraid of love even with all the proof I'd been given that it was good. Hoping he understood that I couldn't say it back, I poured everything into the kiss.

When we finally pulled away, he had a dazed expression on his face, one that I probably matched in my own features. Once we both remembered what we were talking about, he seemed to inspect me, looking into my eyes as if he were searching for the meaning of my soul. Uncomfortable, I thought of closing my eyes, but instead gazed back into his, taking the opportunity to gauge his emotions too. I still felt helpless when I allowed people to see how I felt, like they could use it against me. But I wanted him to see now, _needed_ it, because he had to understand that I loved him with all my soul, yet couldn't say it back.

He looked hopeful but saddened at the same time – and I was afraid both the latter and the former had been caused by my reaction to his words. The green flecks in his eyes that I could only sometimes see were clearly visible tonight, so making a fast decision I decided to ignore all the feelings revolving around in my chest, I just lost myself in his gaze.

"You know, you look beautiful in that dress." Glad he'd changed the conversation away from complicated feelings I still hadn't had a chance to sort out, I blushed bright red. We'd been together for a long time now, but it still made my mind go half-crazy whenever he complimented me. "Absolutely breathtaking." The intensity in his eyes made tears rise to my eyes once again. He was looking at me as if there wasn't anything else in the world worth looking away for.

"Thanks. You don't look half bad either." He knew that that translated from Petal to English meant I thought he looked handsome. Very handsome in fact, the green button-up shirt making the green flecks in his eyes stand out more than they usually did. I was just wearing a plain blue dress, but I felt pretty, Sky had even told me that it went with my eyes. I didn't really believe her, considering my eyes were murky and not at all as pretty as she suggested the dress made them, but I was willing to go with her insight. I wanted to feel like I had worth for once. And even with the impending doom of going downstairs, I still felt like I could rule the world tonight. With Gray by my side, and all negative thoughts pushed to the back of my mind, I could do anything. Except that was only in theory, in reality I could barely even take a step towards that door without feeling faint. I wanted to be strong, but there were so many implications to that word.

"It'd be a shame if you let it go to waste. I want to show you off to my brothers." Deciding I needed to lighten the mood, I made a quick choice to make a joke. I needed to see a smile on his face, for the sadness to be whipped away. I didn't even want to think that I'd made him feel sad because of my inability to confront my own feelings.

"Vince _will_ be jealous…" I teased him, giggling before I could stop myself. The image of Gray's five year old brother telling Gray to back off was too funny to ignore. He'd done it before, claiming he was stealing me and having me all to himself.

"You know what I meant."

"Yeah, I do. You're not going to drop this, are you?"

"Nope." I was about to tell him that he should, and to just go downstairs and enjoy Christmas, but then I saw what he was hiding under a bright smile a teasing glint of his eyes. His brows were slightly pulled together and the grin looked strained. He truly wanted me to spend Christmas with him. Maybe the sadness I'd gotten a short glimpse of before hadn't been caused by me not returning the 'I love you' but rather by the fact that he wouldn't be able to spend Christmas with me. And I could understand where he was coming from – I didn't really want to spend it alone either. But Gray had the rest of his family, why was he disappointed at not having my company?

I then remembered that we were in my bedroom, whilst loud voices were still heard through the floorboards. He could surely hear them too, if he'd wanted to spend it with his family he would've left and done so already. Was this what people described as teenagers being turned silly by love? This irrational feeling to cut out everyone else because they weren't that one special person?

"Look, if you don't really want to go, we can always just stay here-"

"No!" It was obvious by his expression that he didn't want that either. And then it struck me, as if it'd been staring at me in the face for the past ten minutes. He wasn't being turned stupid by overwhelming hormones. No, he considered me part of his _family_. And family were supposed to be together in Christmas. "I can do this, I just need a little moral support." We weren't family like all the rest of the Benedicts that were tied by blood, but that didn't matter. We were a different kind of family, joined by a soulfinder bond and love instead – and that was much more powerful than blood, if my father was anything to go by.

"You sure?"

"Definitely." So taking his hand, I walked determinedly out of my safe haven. Precautions and social anxiety be damned. Gray wanted me by his side and that was that. I was going to be the girlfriend he showed off to his family, and the one who gave him his present in front of everyone else with a smile on her face. In fact, the smile wasn't going to be wiped off any time soon.

"Um… Hey." Once we go to the living room door, Gray did a quick job of shutting everyone up so that he could introduce me to them. I supposed that when living with such a large family, making people shut up came as second nature. I just shrunk further into his side, looking at the floor to avoid everyone's curious gazes. "I just wanted to present you to Maisee."

"Nice to meet you all." Finally ripping my eyes away from the ground, I forced myself to look quickly around the room. I didn't want to seem like the shy girl that can't deal with new people – even if that _was_ who I was.

After the quick introduction, the room descended into chaos once again. Children were squealing and laughing as they played tag around the room, whilst the adults let out loud guffaws of laughter every couple of minutes. Everyone was obviously having a lot of fun. And then there was me. Gray had left my side after a while to go say hi to his aunts and uncles, so I'd been left in a corner of the room, trying to camouflage with the wall paper.

"Mais, sweetheart, you should go out there and enjoy yourself." Startled at the voice, I turned to see Sky there, clad in a beautiful dress that accentuated every curve in her body.

"I dunno." Grimacing at my awkward answer, I attempted to cover it up. I couldn't let Sky believe that I hated her family or anything of the sort. They weren't the problem - I was. "I just feel like you guys are so tight, and I'm intruding."

"Don't be silly, you're family now." She then leaned over to whisper in my ear, a small smile taking over her features. "Not to mention the... bond you share with my eldest son." Winking at me, she took my hand, dragging me out to the middle of the room. I felt uncomfortable there, in the centre of the crowd with everyone casting surreptitious glances over at me. But I noticed them, burning holes into my back and making me cross my arms.

"Sky-"

"Don't. Come on, they're just curious. Enjoy yourself!" Forcing me to unfold my arms, she twirled me to the beat of the music. My limbs felt too long, my feet too big and my body too awkward for this, but soon I'd forgotten all about it, simply allowing myself to enjoy it. And perhaps the fact that we were both dancing awfully is what allowed me to appreciate it so much - had I been focused on the dance moves I would've gotten nowhere. And suddenly people were joining us, what used to be soft background music being cranked up until it reverberated against the walls.

And with a loudly beating heart pounding to the music, and Sky smiling at me, I finally felt like I was on top of the world.

"I'm so glad you've joined our family." She shouted over the music.

"Me too." And for once, I completely meant it.

 **Hi :)**

 **So this is the new chapter, early as promised :) Also it had a bit of Sky, which a guest suggested. Sorry if it isn't enough, but I promise to make one up to the brim with Sky and Zed soon :D**

 **Long chapter! Tbh I think it's a miracle this chapter is up at all - thank the Easter holidays for that ;) But yeah, do you guys reckon we can get it up to 97? Fingers crossed, huh? Completely optional, as per usual, you know the drill :)**

 **Bye bye!**


	31. Chapter 31

"Hi, you're Maisee, right?" Startled out of my train of thought, I looked up, finding the tallest people I'd possibly ever met. I didn't bother replying, knowing it was a rhetorical question that was just being used to start up a conversation. "My name's Crystal and this is my husband Xav. We-" She stopped half way through the sentence, successfully halting my assessment of her too. I'd been looking at her clothes – obviously designer – but her odd behaviour piqued my interest a lot more than her outfit choice.

"Crystal, are you ok?" The guy who'd been presented to me as Xav, spoke up, worry blossoming on his features. But she wasn't listening to him, that much I could tell, if the lost expression on her face was anything to go by.

"Oh- Oh my god." She then grabbed my hand, taking me away from her husband and everyone else. She found what she was looking for quickly – a reclusive spot in the kitchen away from everyone else. Afraid now, I tried tugging my arm away, but she held fast. When I saw her expression though, I stopped my attempts of going back to the living room. She looked like all of her Christmas and Birthday presents had been rolled into one. "You- Do you- Gah, sorry I'm so excited I can't even speak."

"Ok?"

"Do you know you're his soulfinder?" She said this so fast that I would've missed it if I hadn't been paying so much attention to her. It was a technique I'd picked up at the monster's – the closer you looked, the higher the chance of being able to block a blow would be. And Crystal had dragged me away from witnesses, it'd been the first motive my brain could come up with.

"I… Um, yes." Had Gray not told his family about me? Wiping my hands nervously on my dress, I took a deep breath. This was even worse than I'd thought it to be, seeing how I was sure that he'd be announcing it at some point tonight. "Don't tell anyone though, I think he wants to keep it a surprise-"

"Hey, what're you guys doing here?" Gray cut me off before I could finish, coming into the kitchen. He reached for the litre coke bottle that had been set up amongst the rest of the other drinks, cocking his head to the side in curiosity.

"Just having a drink sweetie. God I haven't seen you in ages, come give Auntie Crystal a hug." She was good at diverting attention away from his question, keeping him busy by asking him quick-fire questions about everything. How school was going, how he was getting along with his brothers and even whether Sky was thinking of bringing another kid into the already large family.

This gave me time to sneak out, but instead of heading back to the party I went outside. Once there, I sat down on the log I'd become accustomed to perching on, and waited. I'm not sure what I was waiting for, maybe for the night to be over, but whatever it was, I simply gazed off into space. I didn't bother trying to collect my thoughts about Crystal somehow knowing him and I were soulfinders, knowing I'd just give myself a headache. Instead, I listened, every bird and little scurrying animal coming to the forefront of my mind. I played around with imagining being able to see them for a while before the spell was broken by the sound of a door opening. The person's footsteps were quiet, alerting me as to who they belonged to.

"Hey." Not needing to open my eyes to know it was Gray – no one in his family knew about my perversion to loud noises – I greeted him blindly, not wanting to be ripped away from my daydream just yet.

"Hey yourself." He sat down next to me and soon, without me even realising, I was sat in his lap, leaning against his chest. He started drawing patterns up and down my arms, making me drift slightly into sleep rather than nature. Sitting with him like this, comfortable silence surrounding us, felt completely natural, as if we'd both been made for this moment. Which, in a sense, I supposed we had, considering we'd been created for each other. It was just a shame I had to break it.

"You didn't tell your family about us?" My sentence was barely above a whisper but I knew he'd heard. He always did. Stiffening behind me, his movements stopped before restarting at a slightly quicker pace.

"I wanted to tell them all tonight, in person."

"Your aunt scared the crap out of me when she asked me if we were soulfinders."

"Yeah, she does that. She's a soulseeker so she can tell if two people are soulfinders. I'm guessing she was just doing her routine check, the one she does on anyone, and she must've seen that I was closer to home than expected." Nodding along with his words, I was prepared to fall back into the calm ambience we'd had before. But he spoke up again, seemingly having something important to tell me. "I have something for you."

"You do?" Craning my neck, I turned slightly to be able to look at him in the eyes. I'd never been given anything so this was monumental, even if it only turned out to be a packet of haribos.

"Yup." He glanced away from me nervously, reaching into his back pocket. From there, he took out a small, elongated box that was most certainly not a packet of haribos. It was going more towards jewellery than anything else. Astonished, I cradled it for a second in my hands, too shocked to do much else. The blue ribbon tied around it felt like silk under my fingers, making me pass my hands over it in admiration. "You know, the present's actually inside the box."

"I know, it's just… Well, I've never gotten given a present before." Shocked at my words, he seemed speechless for a couple of seconds before threading his fingers with mine.

"Wow. I hope it doesn't disappoint then." Trying to calm myself down, I played with the ribbon for a little while longer before no longer being able to hold back the anticipation. Undoing the bow, it fell into my lap, the dark blue matching my dress. Which probably meant it was similar to the colour of my eyes. At this thought I blushed, wondering if that was just a coincidence on his part. Not wanting to continue that train of thought, I pushed up the lid slowly, afraid of what I'd find inside.

But when I did see, I felt my jaw hang open. The ribbon I'd been admiring paled in comparison to the beautiful necklace in the box. It was nestled in blue velvet, making the dark blue gem in the middle stand out even more. It was surrounded by swirls made of delicate strands of silver, hanging in a simple chain. Without even realising, my eyes had watered up, not able to comprehend why someone would spend as much time finding a beautiful gift like this one.

"...Do you like it?"

"I, god, Gray I absolutely love it. This must've cost a fortune." Turning around, I motioned for him to help me secure the latch. He did so, slowly letting his fingers trail down my neck once he was finished. Goosebumps rose wherever he touched, but I wasn't cold. Quite the opposite, in fact.

"So? I want to spoil you rotten and give you all those things you deserve. Hell, you deserve ten times this, but I'm a little on the poor side." Seeing I still looked a little dazed, he placed a kiss on my cheek, causing me to blush even more than I was already. "I love you."

"But my present for you isn't even half as good as this one." Without allowing him to try to persuade me that he'd love my present no matter what, I took his hand, making him stand up. Then I took him to the meadow I'd prepared a while before the Christmas party started. Thank god it wasn't raining or it would've all been ruined. We soon got there – a beautiful meadow covered in small lilac flowers. It was illuminated by candlelight, making it illuminated with a warm orange glow.

"This is amazing Pet, how did you have time to do all this?"

"I had a little help, I couldn't make the perfect spot for a midnight date without some assistance." Sky had come out with me, as I couldn't carry all the candles here on my own. Not to mention I was still too afraid to come out at night without someone by my side.

"Well I love it, I can't believe you thought I wouldn't."

"That isn't your gift, this is just… Part of it, I guess." I then went behind a tree, grabbing the present I'd stashed there. I'd made sure the tree had some over grown leaves in that area so that if it _did_ end up raining, at least it would be safe. Handing it to him, I smiled as his eyes widened in surprise.

"You made me a scrap book?" He passed a few pages, scanning them to get the gist of it until got to the last one I'd decorated. That one said 'And this is where our story continues…' I couldn't keep the joy off my features when he scooped me into his arms. Laughing I wrapped my legs around his waist, allowing him to kiss me senseless. "This is possibly the best Christmas present I've gotten. No, scrap that, it _is_ the best one."

"It isn't that great. But yeah, it turns out Sky's been taking pictures of us in secret since she discovered we're soulfinders, thinking it might come in useful one day. I also got your phone password from your brothers, and got access to the selfies you force me to endure every once in a while." In my explanation, I didn't bother mentioning that in each page there was a reason why I cared for him written carefully in cursive. He'd find out soon enough, but I didn't want him reading them with me in front of him.

"Well, hey, speaking of my phone-" Cutting himself off, he took it out of his pocket, tapping on the screen until a soft melody started playing. He then got down on one knee, sending me a playful smile as he extended a hand towards me. "May I have this dance, milady?"

"Why, yes, kind sir." As we both laughed, he got up, stepping closer to me. Still amused, I placed one hand on his shoulder and the other in his hand. He started spinning us in slow circles, me just following his lead. I'd never danced before but didn't let it deter me, simply hoping for the best as we danced around the clearing. It was magical, and for one second everything was ok. Gray hadn't told his family about us yet, and I still had self-esteem issues, but we watched all of our problems disappear as we danced the night away. Everything was perfect.

I should've known that such a thing didn't exist.

 **Hi :)**

 **Ok guys, although you could probably tell from the ominous cliffhanger, the second plot's about to start. The way I've been looking at this story is that there's the plot of these two falling in love, and then there's the... other thing ;) Haha, I'm not gonna tell you guys so easily. Tell me what you thought! I know this is just a filler, but I wanted one last fluffy chapterbefore all hell breaks loose :)**

 **Guys we reached the target yet again! I want to hug you all for being so amazing to me :) Also, we reached the front page when the stories are ordered by reviews! Gosh, I never even imagined I could get close O.o You're all too great. But yeah, so in celebration, I've decided to let you guys pick a bonus chapter :) It'll be posted instead of next chapter, and can just be something cute you guys would like to see. If you're struggling for an idea I've got these few out:**

 **A) Another date?**

 **B) Them playing with Vincent (Gray's tiny little bro) in the snow?**

 **C) A separate character's POV of a chapter you particularly like?**

 **Tell me what you think :)**

 **Whoops, almost forgot :/ The goal for this chapter is 101 :) Holy applesauce guys, we're going onto three figures O.o I can't even believe it, I love all of you so much :)**

 **Bye bye! ^.^**


	32. Bonus Chapter!

**(A/N: This chapter is based 2 years after the story ends, due to it being a special bonus chapter for you all. Enjoy!)**

"I'll catch you!"

"No!" I shouted, running slowly away from the two five year olds chasing me. They were pelting snowballs at me, whilst I was having the time of my life, laughing at the huge smiles on each of their faces.

"Don't worry boys, I got it." I looked towards Gray's voice, but before I could find him I was tackled from the side. He spun us quickly so he'd be the one to land on the soft snow. I had to roll my eyes at how overprotective he always was. "Gotcha." He said, winking at me. And in that split second, everything else melted away. His eyes, so close to me that I felt as if I could stare into his soul, crinkled with humour. I felt myself falling in love all over again, with laughter surrounding us, snowflakes dancing in our hair and magic fizzing in the air. Gray dropped his mouth to mine in a chaste kiss, but we were stopped almost immediately by a chorus of 'yuck's from behind us.

"Alright alright, we'll stop." I stood up, not wanting to make everyone uncomfortable. We'd invited everyone out for a relaxing day where our only worry would be how much water could get in our clothes through the waterproofs. So far only we'd gotten here, Gray, Vince, Max and I, but hopefully Althea and Ian would arrive shortly. I didn't understand why I was so happy about all of us getting together like this, but all I knew was that it felt as if my chest was expanding from joy.

"Yeah, it's gwoss." Maxy hid his face behind his hands, wrinkling his nose. Crouching down next to him, I hugged him, unable to help myself. Gray's little brothers were simply too adorable not to. I held so much happiness in my heart that hugging everyone in a mile radius just seemed like the only option. "Ew! Cooties!"

"Aw, love you too Maxy." He was trying to swat me away, but I picked him up, draping him over my shoulder, whilst Vince watched, mouth agape.

"Put me down! No! Gray, save me!" Max kept hitting against my back, as I laughed, spinning him around in circles. And then Vince was at my side, holding onto my leg. I stopped turning to make sure he wouldn't get hurt, looking down at the boy curiously. Behind me, Maxy gave a sigh of relief. I couldn't help the giggle that escaped my mouth at the cute sound.

"Silly, Gray can't save you, he wuvs Maisee." Vince said, a wise expression overtaking his features. Laughing at his comment, I set down Maxy next to his brother, sprinting up to Gray, who'd been watching the whole scene with amusement.

"W-" He went to complain, but I threw myself on him, sliding around until I was getting a piggy back from him, a pissed off look overtaking his features.

"If Gray can't do anything, does that mean I can do this?" Ruffling his hair with my glove-clad hands, I gave him endearing smile, hoping he wouldn't push me off his back.

"Maisee! Stop abusing your future husband!" Althea's voice was, as always, much too loud, meaning we could hear it even if she wasn't fully visible yet. Her head popped up from behind a tree, as if she'd been hiding there for a while. "Boo!"

"Hate to break it to you babe, but you're not scary." Ian appeared behind her, and I had to stop my smile from showing at the pet-name. Gray and I shared a knowing glance before we went over to them. They were meant to be, that much was obvious to absolutely everyone. From the chemistry they had, to the way they called each other babe, and even the way they argued. We'd been trying to get them together for a long time now, yet every time we pushed them they just sprang back.

"Sure I am." She said, glaring him down. I don't completely understand why I did what I did next, but suddenly I was in front of Althea, stealing some candy from her pocket and tossing it at Ian. I supposed I was trying to get them to finally making a move, but it ended up backfiring completely.

"Ian asked me to!" I said quickly, before diving out of the way, into the safety of Gray's arms. Vince and Maxy watched from a distance, looking almost afraid to approach the newly arrived teenagers. I couldn't blame them - Althea looked like a goth straight out of a cheesy film, and Ian had to be at least 6'4", what with his tall parents.

"Vince, Maxy, come over here, it's your cousin, Ian." But before they could, Althea's angry form threw itself on Ian. I'd expected a little shouting, hoped for a make-up kiss. Instead it seemed like WW3 was brewing. The two little boys took a step back rather than forwards, making me pinch the bridge of my nose in exasperation.

"You fucking dick, I can't believe you told her to steal my candy!" I stared wide-eyed, too in shock to realise that there were two little kids presencing a lot more swearing than they should do. They were now rolling around in the snow, shouting at each other whilst their words got lost in the snow.

"I think you made a mistake, unleashing Althea." Gray whispered in my ear, only to take off running to where his brothers stood a few meters away.

"You think?" I shouted this at his retreating back, deciding to take matters into my own hands, stalking towards the mass that was them. I wasn't entirely sure how to separate them, considering I had no upper body strength, and that they were drowning out my voice with their shouts.

"Ow- Fuck Ally!"

"Don't call me that!"

"Don't attack me then!"

"Ow-"

"Ow- stop- no-"

"You-"

"No-"

"Guys!" I shouted, trying to catch their attention, but they continued fighting. It seemed Althea was trying to get the haribos back, but Ian was being annoying about it. And to think this had started as a ploy to get them to finally kiss. "Can you two just kiss already?" Finally, they halted. As they did I saw the compromising position they were in. Althea was straddling him, whilst he had her wrists in one hand and the candy in the other. But what was most noticeable was that their faces were close enough to kiss.

Squealing, Althea jumped backward, managing to topple us both over so now the three of us were laying in the snow. Looking at each other, we realised the ridiculousness of the situation. We were being buried in snow because one of us was a fangirl, another one of us was insane about her candy, and the other was too willing to piss someone off. We were joined by Gray, who just looked confused, and the laughter could no longer keep itself in. We all burst into giggles, the confusion in Gray's eyes only growing further.

"What did I miss?"

"Althea and Ian almost-" I began, but was quickly cut off.

"And he stole my candy!" Althea cut in, a murderous expression coating her features. We all scooted away from her, afraid she'd end up strangling one of us, but it was forgotten quickly with the next round of laughs.

"That was Maisee." Ian pointed out, but at a glare from her, he sealed his lips shut.

"I want candy too!" We heard from behind us. Gray turned around, and we found Maxy there, gripping onto the back of his shirt.

"I don't think that's a good idea squirt." I said, incorporating myself. "I'd rather not have to go through that again." I gave the two boys a sympathetic look, but they seemed adamant to accept my point, and before I knew what was happening, a snow ball collided with my face. "Wha-"

"We want candy!" They shouted in unison, making us all shoot each other worried glances. Gray went to step in, to berate them for throwing a snow ball at me for no reason, but Althea jumped in first. She had a devilish glint in her eyes, and I already knew she'd just be causing trouble.

"Alright, I'll fight you for it." Althea shocked all of us by saying this, whilst standing up and dangling two lollipops in front of their eyes. Before they could grab them, she swatted it back, grinning cheekily.

"Good luck with that boys, I still haven't managed to wrestle candy out of Ally's hands." Ian looked exasprated as he revealed this bit of information to the boys, rolling his eyes at his soon-to-be-girlfriend.

"I told you not to call me that!"

"Make me." A teasing glint glowed in his eyes, taking two steps towards her. She did the same, almost as if a magnet were attracting the two of them together with an undeniable force. As we watched the scene amusedly, Gray draped an arm over my shoulders, making me snuggle into his warm body. I had to admit that the cold was starting to seep in through the many layers Sky had forced on me.

"You look cold." He whispered in my ear, making me shiver from a wholly different reason. I felt like all of my nerve connections were on fire. It was silly that after dating him for so long he still managed to have this effect on me. In the background, we saw Althea throw a single lollipop between Maxy and Vince, and them throwing themselves on top of it, fighting for it like wolves. But it didn't matter that his little brothers were killing each other just five feet away from us: here it was just us.

"No, I look like a marshmallow." I didn't understand why I was whispering too, but it seemed apt, what with all the shouting happening in the clearing. Ian and Althea had stopped arguing but were now shouting loud bets about which twin they thought would win. I wanted to tell them off them for not being responsible with the two boys, but I was too entranced by Gray.

"A beautiful marshmallow." He said, a grin appearing on his features. Kissing my nose, he made me blush all the way from my toes to the top of my head.

"Stop, you're making me blush."

"Who said I didn't do it on purpose?" Winking he snuggled his face into my neck, my insides melting and electrifying in that split second. I wanted this moment to last forever. But the boys looked like they were going to hurt each other soon, so I decided to step in. Gray pouted at me as I walked away, but I simply rolled my eyes at him, grinning at how easy this all was. I'd always imagined relationships to be hard, and yet Gray made every single moment a dream.

"Boys, come on, I'll buy you some cotton candy on the way back." They stopped immediately, their eyes filling with hope and happiness. A giggle escaped my mouth at how easy it was to distract them, whilst I helped them off the floor. They'd somehow gotten snow absolutely everywhere, meaning I needed to take their coats off to shake it off from their clothes.

"Oh come on Mais, just let them freeze." Said Althea from far away, smiling in that way which made me know she was joking. I noticed she was standing incredibly close to Ian, hiding my grin behind my hand so she wouldn't get angry.

"You're heartless." I pointed out.

"Yeah but I make _the_ best muffins." At this we all started laughing, apart from her. "What?"

"There is no way you can cook princess." Jumped in Ian, making Althea turn to him quickly, anger blooming on her features. It was such a hilarious sight to behold, small Althea trying to size Ian up, that I halted in my movements, directing my attention towards the two quarrelling teenagers.

"I can!"

"Can't."

"Can."

"Can't."

"Can."

"Oi! Can you two keep you squabbles down? You sound like you're five!" As Gray said this, he came over to me, helping me finish the job of cleaning his brothers up quickly. "You alright?"

"Yeah, I guess I just spaced out." I told him, kissing his cheek for being so sweet. I didn't deserve someone as amazing as him. Shaking my head to get the horrible thought out, I smiled at him, hoping it looked convincing. By his grimace, I could guess it probably wasn't. But he didn't have much time to dwell on why sadness was sweeping into my eyes, because we heard a swoosh to our right. Turning, we saw Ian had tackled her onto the floor, whispering something in her ear. She giggled uncontrollably, all the while pretending to want him off. Although I was pretty certain she was pulling him closer rather than farther away.

"They make such a cute couple don't they?"I asked him, not remembering the eavesdropping kids by our feet.

"They're not a couple yet." He tried to sound like he believed it, but failed miserably, the humour in his eyes betraying him.

"Bullcrap." The ridiculousness of my censored swear became clear as we heard a " _Fuck you"_ shouted in the distance. A chuckle escaped my mouth, as he hugged me to his side, once again warming me from head to toe. This time, I hoped we'd have a little bit more of uninterrupted time.

"God, I feel like we're a married couple looking at their arguing children."

"Well that's not such an awful image, is it?" I directed my question at him, opening my eyes wide in curiosity. We'd left school a couple years ago, yet still had no plans for the future. It just seemed so far away, but we were 19, and we already knew we were going to spend the rest of our lives together.

"Don't worry Angel, I'll pop the question soon." And with that, he left me gaping at him as he went to scoop up his two little brothers. "Who's hungry?" He asked them, taking them over to the picnic basket I'd set up on a tree to avoid it getting wet. I watched his retreating form, my mind whirring from what he'd said. He couldn't be serious, could he? Yet the image of us sitting on a porch bench, hands linked and watching our children running around was too great to ignore. It made my insides warm just imagining it. My eyes zeroed in on his back, and I knew then what my answer would be.

How could it be anything else?

"Oh my god Ian, fuck you!" I laughed jovially. Everything was right in the world.

 **Hi :)**

 **So. Much. Fluff. Oh my god guys this chapter was a wonder to write, I haven't had this much fun in a while :) Also, I reckon you guys deserve it considering what's coming up next... Haha, I'm not telling ;) Sorry I couldn't include everyone's ideas, but I promise to include a new bonus chapter soon :)**

 **Tell me what you thought! In case you didn't find out, this chapter is to celebrate getting onto 3 figures, and also getting onto the front page :) Thank you so much to all of you for supporting me. I know I say it basically every chapter, but I feel as if it's not enough cos you guys honestly make my day. No jokes, lately I find myself smiling for no reason, just because I know I've got all of you being such wonderful people and enjoying my story :)**

 **So thank you. Thank you so much :)**

 **Bye bye :)**

 **PS: Goal for this chapter is 106 :D (Woah, we're onto the 100s O.o )**


	33. Chapter 32

Gray's POV

Petal and I continued to dance around the clearing, nothing mattering apart from us. The rest of the world fell away, and the only thing I saw were her blue eyes, warm light dancing in them. I felt myself falling further and further in love with her. Time was suspended amongst a frail thread, her and I weaving its magic with our careful steps.

All too soon, it was shattered, a telepathic message waking me up to the fact that reality had continued to exist around us. My uncle Yves had once told me that the stronger the gravitational pull of something, the slower time went for that object. I knew what he meant, but now it had taken on a whole new meaning – Petal's attraction pulling me in irrevocably, and slowing time for us.

 _Gray? Sweetheart we're about to start dinner, where are you two?_ Snapping out of it, I tugged Pet closer to me, hoping to be able to prolong the eternity we'd made in that one second.

 _We were just exchanging presents, we'll be back in ten minutes, don't worry._ Cutting off the conversation before mum could chastise me about giving out presents before everyone else, I started the walk home with Pet. Along the way, we both stayed quiet, as if the magic would collapse over our heads if either of us spoke up.

So, a scrapbook holding my most precious memories in one hand and the most beautiful girl I'd ever met holding my other one, I marched straight back into the chaos.

"Oh good, you guys are here." Mum then fussed over us for a good minute, complaining about how cold both of us were. All the while, she kept shooting me looks, telling me with her gaze that she thought I'd already postponed telling everyone about my relationship a little too long. Being aware of that myself, I spoke up, getting everyone's attention quickly. Crystal was already bouncing on her heels and looking ridiculously happy, making it obvious to everyone around her what my announcement would be. Which was good – I didn't like surprising people. Gauging everyone's reactions to my aunt, I could already tell I was going to be avalanched by hugs.

"Um, I just wanted to tell you about Maisee," the name still tasted weird in my mouth, knowing that her own father was the reason for her having to hide behind it. "As you all know we've been dating for a quite a while. But that's not all. We're also… uh, soulfinders." And as predicted, an on slaughter of hugs followed my statement. All the women gave Pet hugs too, but the men –thankfully – stayed away, having been warned by my mum about her abhorrence to contact from the opposite sex.

Comments like 'I'm so happy for you' and 'I knew it, you two make the cutest couple' were thrown around, and I think even uncle Vic smiled. Which was odd, because he never did that unless his soulfinder (Auntie Mel) did something particularly endearing. It was all going a lot better than I expected. That is, before Blake decided to rush in and pick Petal off the ground in a brotherly hug.

It would've been perfectly ok had she seen it coming, or had she been more comfortable around my younger brother – but she wasn't. He'd sneaked up on her from behind and the minute his arms went around her, all hell broke loose. Pet started screaming as everyone turned to see what all the commotion was about, and all the while I could feel my jaw ticking, the urge to kill my brother much stronger than normal. He immediately dropped her, but the harm had been done.

"Wow, ok, calm the hell down, I was only giving you a hug. Jeez." He tried to blame it on her, but it was obvious that it was a lost attempt, it falling deaf on Pet's ears. She was close to having a panic attack, that much I could tell. Clutching her chest, her eyes were tearing up and it looked as if she was having difficulty breathing, even though Blake had let go of her already. Pushing my family out of the way, I walked up to her, warning her with my eyes that I was going to get closer than her panic-mode-defence-zone allowed for.

She didn't seem to notice it though, her frantic eyes bouncing around the room as if searching for a culprit that she'd never find. So deciding to risk it, I leaned down, drawing her to my chest. In this position I could feel her ragged breathing against my chest as she struggled to pull in a full breath. Knowing that my family weren't helping, I quickly took her out of the house, all the while cradling her in my arms. As if such a simple action could soothe her pain somehow.

Once we got outside, I did what I always did when trying to calm her down: I looked her straight in the eyes and went to say comforting words that would clear the panic. However, before I could get a single word out, I noticed the expression in her eyes. I'd gotten used to Pet having bursts of panic every once in a while, but she'd never looked as scared as she did now. It broke my heart to think that just one person could screw over another so badly that a simple hug caused them this much pain. So instead of saying what I'd meant to say, I communicated all of my feelings with that one look.

How terrified I was for her. How deep my hatred for her father ran. How much I wished that I could replace her broken heart with my own – because she deserved to live happily so much more than I did. She'd gone through so much pain. I hoped she understood with that single look that I'd give up my life for her without a second thought. And in that moment, I did. Delving into her mind, which was unprotected due to her not having knowledge of shields, I carefully dug through all her memories until I found the deep recess where she'd buried all the memories to do with her father.

And right there, using all of my remaining energy, I put up a shield. Placing shields in your own mind isn't all that difficult, but once you had to do it in someone else's mind, the process got a lot more difficult. Luckily, Pet's mind wasn't resisting, so at least I only had to fight my own exhaustion. I had to make sure that the shield didn't block her memories but rather just the pain from them, so I made it delicately. Imagining a tall tower made out of glass that shone in the sunlight, reflecting rainbows and rays of light every which way. I imagined the most beautiful image my mind could conjure.

So I imagined her. I made her see how I saw her, shining blue eyes and beautiful bright smile. I placed every good memory I had of her there, showing her how deep my love for her was. And just before I could finish sealing it with a kiss, I collapsed to my knees, Petal following me soon after.

"Oh my god. Gray, Gray was that you?" She had tears streaming down her face, but the fear had gone, her eyes no longer blighting with angst. So with a smile that took all I had left, I nodded once, allowing myself to fall unconscious.

Petal's POV

As Gray collapsed into my arms, all I could think of was that I didn't deserve someone so perfect. And the worst part was that he'd hurt himself to save me from my emotional pain – but his brother's hug hadn't even been what upset me. Just as Gray announced that we were soulfinders, I went to move my arms. And then I noticed that something was scraping against my thigh, causing me a bit of discomfort.

So reaching in, I'd found that I had a piece of paper slipped inside my dress, being held up by other stitching in the dress. Confused I'd opened it, but soon my blood had turned cold.

 ** _I found you. Did you miss me, Petal?_**

Those were the only words written in the letter, but I immediately knew who they belonged to. Who had carefully written them to cause me the most emotional pain possible. But not only that. Also to assure me that they were coming to get me, and this time, I wasn't getting away.

The monster.

 **Hi :)**

 **I'm so sorry, but then again I'm really not :') I hope you guys liked that chapter, even if Petal** ** _did_** **have to suffer quite a bit for it :/**

 **Once again we passed our goal! You guys are too good, seriously. But anyhows, how about we try for 111? Touch wood, huh? It's completely optional though, as you know :)**

 **Bye bye :)**

 **(Btw TAHIRA (just putting it in caps to attract your attention xD) there was indeed a timeskip last chapter, sorry if I didn't make that clear enough :/ But yeah, it was a bonus chapter, so we're back to the present now :) I hope I didn't confuse you too much)**


	34. Chapter 33

Petal's POV

"I… I lost the necklace you gave me. Gray, Gray oh my god I lost it and I can't find it and I-" Choking on my breath, I stopped talking, my throat feeling as if it was being tightened by an iron fist.

"Hey, hey, don't worry about it. I'm gonna be here for a really long time, we have forever to be together and I can get you dozens of necklaces like that one." With worry in his eyes, he hugged me to his chest, holding me delicately, almost as if he knew how easy it would be to break me.

"No but it isn't the actual necklace, it's what it represents. It's the first gift I've ever gotten… And I've lost it." A bitter feeling rested in my mouth, making my nose scrunch up. I was over reacting to this so badly, yet I couldn't help myself. The words on my father's note kept replaying over and over in my head, making me feel sick to my stomach. And I'd lost my necklace on top of it all. It was all just too much. I needed to cry long and hard. But no one was giving me a long enough break to do that. "Just shows that I don't deserve nice things, really." My imminent demise was looming over my shoulder, and it seemed as if I didn't even have time to breathe.

"Don't you dare say that Petal Grace. You deserve the moon and the stars and everything in between. Hell, I don't deserve _you_. So please stop thinking such horrible things and tell me what's _actually_ wrong." He knew that I wasn't that upset over the necklace, but rather all of it piling up on top of me. I was going to end up breaking, and the necklace was just the straw that broke the camel's back. He couldn't know that though, I didn't want to put him in danger – and knowing Gray he'd probably go charging head first if he saw the note.

"It's- Nothing. Nothing at all." Once again, a bitter feeling settled in my throat, making me feel sick. Everything in my body ached me to tell him, but I couldn't. There was no way I'd be putting him in danger. However, I guess he hadn't realised how thick headed I was going to be about this, because he pulled me back, looking at me with pleading eyes. And with more angst in my chest than ever before, I wanted nothing more than to be in his arms again.

"Petal, please-" Unable to hold the tears back any longer, I threw myself into his arms. I couldn't tell him what was upsetting me, but none of my mental boundaries said he couldn't comfort me. And that's all I needed in these moments of pain - his strong arms to hold me as if he'd never let me go.

"Please just hold me. That's all I need." It wouldn't fix all of my problems but, for that one second, it did. Enveloped in Grays arms, tears cascading down my cheeks, I felt the world around us come to a halt. Here, nothing could hurt me. Not the monster, not my thoughts, no one. And as he kissed the crown of my head and started whispering sweet nothings in my ear, I felt myself melting further into the embrace, leaving all my fears behind me.

"I know you've told me a dozen times that you can't be fixed but… It's moments like these when I wish I could give you my heart to replace your broken one." At his comment, more self-defence walls broke, making me cry harder into his chest.

"You're truly too good for this world Gray." Pulling away slightly, he made me look up into his eyes, pinning me down with his beautiful brown eyes. I knew he was going to say something important then, he always made us keep eye contact whilst he told me the things he wanted to make sure I understood. Like when he told me I was a savant, or when he told me he'd trust me with his life. And even when he told me he loved me more than words could describe.

"I beg to differ. I'm pretty sure _you're_ the one who's too good. You belong tucked away in the forest, playing with daffodils and nymphs, not a trouble in the world. You belong away from all the problems that monster forced you to endure and away from cruel humanity. You have a heart of gold, Petal, and we all know how much that's coveted by humans. I'm afraid one of these days the evil of this world is going to shatter you, just because they can't stand to see someone as good as you." Throughout his speech, my tears had finally ceased, as I took in the wonder his eyes possessed. He truly saw me this way, somehow.

The image he portrayed was simply too beautiful to be associated with me, but I allowed myself to forget my inhibitions in that moment, pretending I could believe the words he was saying.

It made me want to start bawling all over again. Instead, I went up on my tiptoes. Just like Gray always looked me dead in the eye when he had something important to tell me, I always whispered stuff like that. If it was truly important, the rest of the world didn't deserve to be able to catch a glimpse of it. It was solely for Gray. Although to be fair, he _was_ my world.

"I love you." In an instant, I was back in his arms, him spinning me round in circles. A triumphant smile was sent my way, the look of someone who'd won the Olympics plastered on his features. I'd never seen anything cuter in my life. And to think I could cause someone to have this reaction – It made my heart swell.

"You know what? I change my mind, you don't belong in the forest. Because despite being too good for us, I don't want you anywhere else but by my side."

"Are you capable of saying anything that _isn't_ horribly sappy and romantic?" Shooting me an amused smile, he shook his head stubbornly. He'd stopped spinning me around but hadn't put me back down, so I wrapped my legs around his waist to keep myself upright.

"Nope. But you love me anyway." A laugh escaped me at that, his antics amusing me more than anything. Before meeting Gray I'd thought cockiness a terrible feature for someone to possess. But as I dissolved in a fit of giggles, the fireplace roaring behind us and happiness consuming me – I didn't want him anywhere but by my side either.

"Yeah, I kinda do."

 **Hi :)**

 **Am I capable of writing something that** ** _isn't_** **corny af? Nope ;) Hope you liked this chapter, and I mean at least it's a step up from last week's really sad chapter, right? Kind of? She's still having a melt down, but she's got Gray by her side so it's all good :)**

 **We reached the target! I'm so happy you guys are still enjoying my story :) We're almost at the end now, only about 10 more chapters to go (plus any bonus chapters I feel like putting in :D ), and tbh it's been such a journey. Like seriously, I've never stuck this long to a story, and it feels like it's all thanks to you guys for being so great :) Goal for this chapter is 115, so let's hope we can reach it, right? (as always, no pressure :) )**

 **Bye bye xx**


	35. Chapter 34

Gray's POV

"So, what do you fancy doing today?" Now, a week after Christmas, Petal and I were continuing to come to the beautiful meadow she'd found, it being a nice spot to relax away from my family. So we were both laying down, surrounded by dozens of small white lilies – that I was sure were Pet's doing. Taking our intertwined hands, I kissed her knuckles as she thought about what we could do. We'd both had nothing to do for the whole of the winter break, and if I was being honest I didn't mind. It felt like everything else had stopped mattering, just each other and our meadow existing. Not even time could affect us, both of sleeping in as long as possible and then taking a lazy stroll through the forest in the afternoon. I'd never been more relaxed and happier in my life.

"Do you want to go to our ice cream place?" Sad that we had to leave our sanctuary, but only too happy to oblige to her wishes, I stood up. Using our joint hands to pull her up, we started walking slowly towards the house so we could take the car. I smiled at Petal, already thinking of all of the possibilities that our lives could take.

"Oh yeah, I was going to ask, how's that annoying friend of yours doing?"

"Who?" Petal asked, looking up at me with her eyes wide in question and her eyebrow furrowed. I had to stifle a laugh at her absolute innocence, and her belief that no one could do any wrong. She hadn't even considered it to be Althea, even though she was one of her only friends.

"Althea."

"I... I wouldn't call her annoying, Gray." She berated me, sending me an evil glare from beside me. But when we were talking about Petal, the extent of her "evil" gazes were a simple squint. I found it quite amusing, but knew she wouldn't appreciate the comment so kept it to myself. I liked all of this, the feeling of being with someone and understanding the small little details which made them _them_. In fact, I liked the feeling of this whole holiday - it was the feeling of being so close to Petal that at any point in the day I could randomly kiss her, simply because I wanted. That at any point I could beat back any ugly memories from her mind if they ever appeared. That I could coddle her and love her to my heart's content. But most likely, it was the feeling that we were the last two people on the surface of the Earth - or maybe it was simply that we _were_ each other's worlds. She certainly was mine.

But before I could continue that train of thought, a white piece of paper caught the corner of my eye.

"Oh, wait. Is this yours?" Snatching it off the floor, I handed it to her. She slowly twirled it around her fingers, confusion apparent. "I thought you might've dropped it." Suddenly her eyes took on a sharper focus, zeroing in on the letter, instead of the soft disdain from before. And without me even realising, the perfect moment from before was ruined, the course of our day doomed to be on a decline of pain and anguish regardless of how much I struggled and fought against it.

"Yeah, maybe." I could see she was trying to sound convincing, but her gaze was lost, and she looked too deep in thought to follow what I was saying. Opening the folded paper, she quickly scanned its contents. Her reaction was nothing that I could've anticipated, though, making me jolt in surprise as she scrunched it up, fear shadowing her features. Throwing it into the overgrown vegetation on the side of the narrow path, it was like it had never existed. Worried now, I stepped closer to her.

"Pet, are you ok? You look terrified." She nodded, but it soon turned into her shaking, the fear I'd seen in her eyes reverberating around her body. Even more worried about her mental state, I drew her into my arms, kissing her temple and trying to calm her down. I'd seen Pet having many panic attacks, but it always hit me just as hard. I could practically feel her fear washing over me as if we belonged to the same system – her pain becoming mine.

"I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm-"

"I asked you if you were ok, not what you look like." This got a small smile out of her, but she wasn't even looking at me. Her eyes were pointed at me but they were unfocused, as if she was miles and miles away. No longer my Petal, but rather the shell that she became when she was truly terrified. Giving her a chaste kiss, I hoped that would startle her out of it, like it sometimes did. However, it didn't even seem to affect her, the shaking continuing and her breaths becoming more and more shallow.

Scooping her up into my arms, I sat down on the floor, knowing this was a lot worse than all of the other times. Before, she'd looked scared of the reaction her body was having, but I'd never seen her look this truly terrified – that is, until… Until Christmas. Feeling as if I'd reached some sort of epiphany, I started brushing stray strands out of her face. Maybe the note was connected to Blake in some way? Absentmindedly trailing my fingers down her cheek, I looked her in the eyes and prepared myself to convince the most amazing person in my life that she deserved to be happy.

"Pet, Angel, you need to listen to me, ok? Focus on my breaths." I then made my breathing extremely loud, so she'd be able to hear it. Soon I noticed her gasped breaths toning in with mine. Relieved that at least the breathing problem was solved, I calmed down substantially. Having my soulfinder in any danger – whether it was something physical or simply her mind – made my skin practically crawl. "You're the most beautiful girl I know, you have been since the minute I saw you, you know? And I guess a part of me knew back then that I was going to fall for you no matter what. I guess I'm the luckiest guy in the world to have you love me back.

"It just hurts me that that asshole of your father caused your heart to break like this. I hope that one day you can be truly happy again, so that I can make you feel like you make me every day.

"I love you so much Pet." Knowing that what she needed to come out of the panic attack was to feel loved again, I rambled on, hoping to distract her from her imminent break down. I then hummed to her, not really sure what I was singing in particular, rocking back and forth. After a few minutes of that, I decided to speak up again. "It's going to get better. I promise." My voice had quieted down to barely above a whisper, so I leaned in Pet's ear to tell her. Surprising me again, she turned her head, looking straight at me for the first time in the past ten minutes – her gaze finally focused on what she had in front of her. And giving me a small smile, she crashed our lips together.

"I love you too." She mumbled this against my lips, making me smile even broader into the kiss. Yes, she was broken, so what? It was these moments, when the world fell away and it was just us, that made it all worth it. The pain, the anguish. And in the end if the only thing I got out of this was Pet's happiness, I'd be content. Even if she ended up leaving me – her being happy would make all of this worth it.

Or, at least, that's what I tried to convince myself of. Because, if I was being honest, I didn't think I could survive without her.

 **Hi :)**

 **So, crap's going down now O.o Hope you guys don't hate me too much xD Also, this was just Gray's point of view on the situation, really, nothing monumental happening, but soon ;) But yeah, tell me what you think of this chapter, I had loads of fun writing Gray being sweet to Petal :)**

 **We didn't reach the target, but that's ok, we can reach it next time, right? Enthusiasm! So, do you guys reckon we can reach 118? Gosh, I can't believe how high we've gotten, it's hard to imagine that it all started off with just a couple of reviews :) Thank you all so much for helping me out, and I know I say it every time, but you guys are just gonna have to deal with it :P**

 **Bye bye xx**


	36. Chapter 35

Petal's POV

Sat cross legged in my room, I ran my fingers through my hair, tugging nervously at the strands. I'd received 5 letters already this week, and I was pretty sure the disappearing necklace was the monster's doing too. I'd just found the newest letter, but I'd quickly burnt it in the fireplace, unable to look at it without feeling physically ill. I wanted to tell someone so much, but at the same time I was afraid they'd drop me. I wasn't part of their family, not really, and I would fully understand if they wanted to protect their own before me.

However, that wasn't what was truly stopping me from going over there and warning them about the situation. I suppose a part of me feared that they _would_ choose to protect me – especially Gray. That would put them in ridiculous amounts of danger, all for someone as worthless as me. During my stay at the Benedict's, I'd come to terms with the fact that I wasn't as despicable as the monster had made me out to be, but that didn't mean that my life was worth putting other's on the line for.

If I just escaped and handed myself over to him, everything would be ok. But I didn't want to. That was the worst part – I couldn't force myself to put them in danger but I couldn't fully save them either due to my cowardice. I wasn't as selfless as Gray made me out to be, I was just a monster in the making who had a little bit more of a conscience than my father.

"Hey Petal. I heard from Gray that you weren't feeling ok." Sky stood in my doorway, her voice jolting me out of my thoughts. In her hands, two steaming mugs were placed on a tray, making a small smile tilt up the edges of my lips. "So I brought you some tea." Nodding at her to come in, she made her way through the room, coming to a stop on the side of my bed. It was obvious she wanted to talk about what happened, but as we both settled against my pillows, I couldn't force myself to speak. If I put the Benedicts in danger I'd never be able to forgive myself.

"It wasn't anything big, not really. I just had a little bit of a freak out, that's all."

"I'm sure it's not nothing. We've all been noticing that you've not been feeling very well this week," biting my tongue, I prevented myself from telling her that having a panic attack was in no way similar to feeling 'unwell'. She meant well, even if she didn't really understand that panic attacks aren't a virus that comes and goes. "And we want to help you out. But we're not really sure what the problem is."

"I've… I've been finding pieces of paper from my pockets. They've reminded me of my old life." Mentally berating myself for dropping her such a massive hint, I hung my head, waiting for her reaction. Hoping she wouldn't catch what I'd admitted, I avoided eye contact. And yet what scared me the most was that a part of me wished she _would_ understand what I was saying.

"Oh? Are they photos of your old life or something like that?" She thought _I'd_ been the one to place those pieces of paper there, that much was obvious. Screwing my eyelids shut for a second, I prepared myself for what I was about to do. Then, with the biggest smile I could muster, I gave her a nod.

"Something like that."

"That's easy then! Every time you find one of these, give us a call and Gray can burn it up for you. That way you can watch your past go up in flames." She made hand gestures with her sentence, making flames with her fingers. Her unguarded mind then brushed next to mine, showing me an image of a tall bonfire, and all of my problems flying away with the sparks. It was beautiful, but I couldn't let them see the letters, even if it was just to burn them.

"I like that plan. Thank you, for everything." She didn't believe my fib, if her worried face was anything to go by, but she left it alone then. Instead we talked about school and how it was going, despite the fact that I hadn't stepped foot in the place for two weeks.

"Right, well I need to go help Max with a picture he wanted to draw. But just remember, we're here for you alright?" Patting my knee twice, she stood up, taking the tea and the tray with her. Her absence left the room feeling cold and empty, devoid of the human emotion which made me feel secure within. So I was quick to get up too, going for the door. At first, I was going to go to Gray's room, see if he wanted to go out. And yet I remembered that I hadn't been alone in nature for quite a while now.

I missed it terribly, regardless of the danger over my head. Changing my path mid-stride, I headed for the stairs. Then I simply put my shoes on, slipping out of the house without anyone being none the wiser. Just like I liked it.

The forest was beautiful at this time of year, frost covering every available patch and dauntingly hanging off of tree's branches. Although, if I was being honest with myself, anything belonging to nature was _always_ beautiful, no matter what the season. Unless it was dying, which is what I found after a couple of minutes of random strolling around. A giant oak tree stood before me, looking perfectly healthy – but something about it screamed help at me.

So without thinking about it too much, I kneeled down before it, placing my palms against its bark. Immediately, a distressed call reached my ears. I wasn't sure how to describe it, just that it sent me scrambling in panic. Something was _very_ wrong with. And if I didn't help it was going to die. My powers had never been an exact science, and I was still unsure of how to use them exactly. But I had to try, letting my instincts take over.

Soon, I felt a wave of energy surge at my fingertips, streaming through the tree. It and I became one in that second, allowing me to quickly find what the problem was. Herbicide was entering the plant's system from somewhere in the trunk, poisoning it from the inside out. By the path I was feeling going down my body, I could tell what its final destination would be – the roots. Once there it wouldn't take very long to kill the tree, all it would have to do was kill the plant's hair root cells. No water meant no glucose. The tree's days were numbered.

But I couldn't allow that to happen, not because of some horrible human being who got kicks out of killing majestic creatures like this tree. Standing up, I started a quick survey of the tree's trunk, not taking very long to find a cylinder nestled in its bark. Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't have had the strength necessary to pull it out, but by that point I was seeing red.

Using all of my strength, I removed it from the tree, telepathy helping me out. It took me a good ten minutes, and by the time I had finished, my hands were bleeding, but it didn't matter, I still needed to remove the poison that had already entered its system. Putting my hands against it once again, I poured energy into the places that I was sure the poison had already infected. By doing this, I discovered that a sufficient amount of energy from me made the poison neutralise. So I continued to do it, each surge of energy making me more and more tired.

Once I was sure the tree would be completely fine, I collapsed near its roots, unable to do anything else. Remaining conscious by a thread was an achievement by any definition of the word, but being able to hear someone quickly approaching was truly a feat of god (me being atheist and all).

"So, I see I've finally found you, my dear." Looking up, with my blurry vision I was unable to see who was talking. What I _was_ able to tell however, was that this certainly wasn't Gray, and I didn't know anyone else who would speak to me like this. My clouded brain was too slow to register what was going on. "Although I have to admit that poisoning the tree was an incredibly good idea of mine. Truly, I didn't expect it to be this easy. All I had to do was poison one of the trees on your daily route and you'd be falling straight into my trap. Your love of things surely has been your dramatic end."

" _You're_ the one who poisoned the tree? You-"

"Nuh uh, what did I tell you about respecting those more worthy than you?" Finally, I understood what was happening. No one had ever called me unworthy apart from… him. The monster. He'd found me. And now he was picking me up, tossing me over his shoulder, me left rendered useless. I'd simply been trying to help the tree. Why was this happening to me?

I'd never done anything wrong. I realised that now – I didn't deserve this just like no one else on Earth did. And in that instant, being carried on the back of the man that would be demise, I finally understood. I _wasn't_ worthless.

"Are those sobs I hear? God, you've become even more pathetic since you've been gone." He stopped then, rope going around my ankles and wrists. I was still much too tired to do anything apart from struggle uselessly. And just before my vision was consumed in black, the monster looked at me one last time. "Don't worry. We'll make you _good_ again."

 **Hi :)**

 **Gah, I hate myself for writing this . I mean Petal's basically my baby by this point and I got her kidnapped. I'm a horrible human being xD**

 **Anyway, guys we got up to 120 reviews O.o 120! You're amazing, I've never gotten that many reviews for a chapter before. So the goal for next chapter is 124, let's hope we can get there again this time :)**

 **Bye bye xx**


	37. Chapter 36

_Gray! Gray help me!_ Clutching at straws by this point, I tried telepathy one last time, hoping for the best. But after a good couple of minutes of trying to connect our minds, I realised how futile this last attempt was. And yet, I'd already tried opening the locked door, as well as screaming for help – contacting Gray had been my only hope.

Tears were streaming down my face by this point, the small room I was stuck in seeming to close around me. The monster had stuck me in here, where I'd regained consciousness a couple of minutes ago. The crappy phone – which Gray had forced on me – had disappeared from my pockets, making telepathy my only way of communicating to the outside world. And even that was useless. Feeling more and more despair claw at my heart, I backed into a corner of the room. I felt pathetic, going into my defensive position, but I was so hopeless that it seemed to be my only option. It was as if all that time with the Benedicts hadn't even existed - once I was back here I returned to being my disgustingly pitiful self. At the thought, my breaths started becoming shorter, leaving my mouth in short, pained gasps. But it was nothing compared to the ache in my chest.

Bringing my hands up, I covered my mouth, trying to make my breathing steady once more. Hyperventilating would probably not help my situation. I didn't think the monster was around, considering he hadn't heard me screaming for help, but I still felt as if the door would open at any moment. I had to be prepared, as stupid as that sounded. Watching it with panic filled eyes, my hands began to tremble, my vision tunnelling until all I saw was the door.

Because I was back at the monster's. And here, nothing mattered, nothing but him. Not me, not my health, not whether anyone would help me – no. Just him, and how he would find me.

Yet, being unable to see anything but the door put me even more on edge. Hands still shaking, I gave up on trying to control my breathing, threading them together. My breaths became the loudest thing in the room, sounding thunderous and echoing around me in circles. And yet, my screams before had seemed to be merely whispers.

I wanted to force myself to get up and try shouting again, to have some hope in me. But it had all vanished, as if it had never been, and I had never been, and it had all been a stupid charade to convince myself that I was safe. Of course, I wasn't. I never had been. Shadows always follow you, no matter how well you hide.

The room started to spin, as I held back a whimper. All the panic, all of the fear I'd accumulated in the past week of receiving letters from him – it all caught up to me, smiling at me like a Cheshire cat. I wanted to grab something to defend myself with, to hide, to do _something_. But all I could do was sit there, hopelessly playing with my fingers and hoping everything would go away. Digging my nails into my palm as hard as I could, I tried to ignore all the thoughts surrounding me, and instead focus on the physical pain. But there didn't seem enough agony in the world to be able to do that.

I felt so exposed, so pathetic. Hiding in a corner, as if that would solve all the problems. Hurting myself to try to forget my thoughts, as if that would make the danger go away. I remembered how Gray had made me feel when he'd comforted me, like nothing would ever be able to hurt me again. How foolish had I been to believe such a preposterous thing?

I called myself strong, my defences impenetrable, yet all it took to pull it down was a little bit of well-placed hope in times of need. I was pitiable. Nothing more than a side character who thought the world revolved around her. One person wouldn't be able to save me. And no person would care about what would happen to me in this room. I would die.

In that second it caught up to me. The terror that reached my veins made my panic from before seem derisive. What before had been merely fear of going back to the monster, had turned into full blown terror at one fact only. I was going to die here. I wouldn't escape. The last thing I would see would be these four grimy walls with peeling paint.

Pressing my back into the wall until I could feel my spine aching from being hit against the plaster, I sobbed. I cried for the life I would never have. For the people I left behind, albeit just a few. I wailed and hit the wall and for that split second let all of my emotion out.

I was going to perish, stuck in this old room. I'd never see tree tops again, nor feel grass poking in between my toes. I'd never feel content or love or happiness whilst in Gray's arms, nor the delicate whisper of his love as he pressed his lips to mine. I'd never have children. I'd never see a blue sky again. I'd never hug Vinny and Maxy to my chest as they cried about scathing their knees. I'd never be able to dance to the tune of an imaginary song, sunlight warming me in a peaceful meadow. I'd never be able to thread another flower through my hair, nor heal a dying tree, nor watch as seasons passed and different animals said hello to me. I'd never meet new people. I'd never be stung by a bee. The last time I'd see Gray had already passed.

All this time at the Benedict's when I'd been lamenting my existence, I hadn't realised how lucky I'd been. I'd been so preoccupied with the possibility of them hurting me, or of the monster coming back, that I'd forgotten how to appreciate the small things in life. And now, I'd never have a chance to. I wanted to see Gray one last time so much that my heart seemed to twitch in my chest. His brown eyes that twinkled in sunlight and moonlight and everything in between; his lips which always formed a perfect smile, just for me to see; his soft voice lulling me to sleep, or telling me how much he loves me, or even teasing me over something silly and insignificant.

Crying harder than I'd ever done before, I threw myself to the ground. Full of self-loathing, I tried to stifle my sobs. Knowing that this would be the last I would know – salty tears and peeling walls and boarded up windows – I allowed the despair to take over my chest.

I was in a tomb. A coffin a few metres too large. My demise awaited me on the other side of that door.

 **Hi :)**

 **I actually hate myself so much for writing this, it's unbelievable. Like, even more than last chapter. Sorry that this was mostly filler by the way, but I wanted to fully explore her feelings of being kidnapped. I hope you guys liked it :)**

 **We reached the chapter, because you're all wonderfully amazing people :D Even though I do horrible things like this to you xD Anyway, the goal for this chapter is 28, but no pressure :) Thanks for reading!**

 **Bye bye :)**


	38. Chapter 37

Gray's POV:

"Mum, how's Petal doing?" I asked her as she drew the curtains. She'd come to say good morning, but, truth be told, I'd wished for it to be a completely different person. I hadn't seen Petal since yesterday morning, and I was starting to become a bit restless. I supposed it was simply because I'd always had the chance of seeing her, so this new development of staying away from me was too unexpected.

"Petal?" She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, and I had to bite my tongue to stop myself from cursing at my mistake. I'd promised Petal that I'd always be able to protect her, and yet here I was, practically giving away her concealed identity.

"Um, Maisee, sorry." Glancing at me with poorly veiled suspicion, she shook her head the slightest amount.

"She told me she's been getting notes from her past. She lied about what they were though, so I'm not sure how ok she actually is." At her mention of notes from her past I bolted upright, remembering the pieces of paper she'd been angrily destroying this past week. It couldn't be that she'd placed them there, she'd looked too frightened and surprised by their appearance. But what would make her panic so much then?

"Her dad." I gasped out, taking off at a sprint to her bedroom. But when I opened the door, her form lying under the duvet didn't meet my eyes. Instead, it was just her neatly made bed, as if she'd never even come home yesterday. Choking on a sob, I fell to my knees in the entryway of her room. A remote part of me tried to tell me that she might've simply gotten up early, but the sinking feeling in my chest, and the pain spreading through my whole body told me otherwise. "No." The plea left my mouth in a whisper, but suddenly it was getting louder and louder the more I despaired. "No, please, no! Not Petal, no!"

Petal's POV:

"Ah, I see you're awake." Locks were heard unclicking, making me press my back even harder against the white plaster of the walls. Fully aware of my surroundings once again, I felt all of my body tensing up. The despair was replaced with adrenalin, making my hands go cold in terror.

"S-stay away from me, you monster." Coming into the room, he looked around until he found me in the corner. A sick smile twisted his lips, probably at how defenceless I was. But then my words registered in his mind, and the smile dropped right off, changing into an angry grimace. I preferred that to the grin. He smiled like that when he was going to have 'fun' with me.

"What did you call me?!" All this time away from him, I'd forgotten how loud he could get. Even the smallest of things would set him off, and I'd forgotten rule number one of survival: never speak. He threw the door back shut, trapping himself with me in the claustrophobic room. There were no windows, no escape. And he was coming closer. My breath started coming in short gasps as I clutched the wall behind me. As if that would help.

"N-nothing. S-sorry sir."

"I thought so." He punctuated this with a coy smile, which sent more shivers going down my spine. I would've preferred to be hit rather than what I was sure was coming next. Molestation. His green eyes zeroed in on my form and, at once, I knew I had been correct. Oh how I wished I hadn't been. "You've put on a bit of weight since you've gone my dear. You're lucky that my clients won't mind that too much." I knew he could see from the fear in my eyes that I understood the underline of his words – he had clients lining up to violate me. But I couldn't force the fear to leave my features, to appear strong. The shaking all over my body prevented me from doing much apart from sit there, quaking before him. I was going to die. But I'd rather that than what I knew was coming.

"P-Please-"

"Don't beg, you pathetic bitch." He grabbed a fistful of my hair, using it to bang my head against the wall. He did so with enough force to send my teeth chattering, intensifying the pain even further. "Now sit here patiently while I go collect the first client." Before he went, he slapped me once more, just for good measure I supposed. He must have felt the tears lining my cheek, but if he did, he didn't mention them. He then pressed back the strands of hair which had become misplaced – once again becoming the man the rest of the world knew him as.

Not the alcoholic, not the monster, and definitely not the despicable human being who deserved to rot in hell. No, they saw him as the green-eyed blond who took his girl to school, who maintained a steady job to support his family, who enamoured girls with just a look in their direction.

It all made me sick.

And that feeling in the pit of my stomach was strong enough to send me hurtling in his direction. Scrambling up, I crossed the room in a short sprint, the adrenalin reverberating through my system, clouding my mind.

I wasn't sure how to punch, and judging by the fury in his eyes I didn't have much time to act. So I let instinct take over, much like I always did with nature. Immediately, my leg shot up in a kick aimed directly between his legs. Not having time to react, he received the full brunt of the kick, sending him sprawling to the floor. Without even thinking about what I'd done, I ran out of the door, banging a couple of the locks shut once I got myself outside.

There, I found a man staring at me in surprise. Unable to bring the courage to hurt someone else again, I simply ran in the opposite direction to him, hoping to god that I wouldn't find a dead-end. Adrenalin pumped in my ears, spurring me to run faster than I'd ever done before. The sound of locks opening resonated around the corridor, making me run even faster.

They were in fast pursuit of me now, screaming curse words at me. But it was ok, because I'd found that I'd chosen the right direction, stairs leading down to the bottom floor greeting me. Smiling for the first time since I'd been stuck here, I used some of my telekinesis to boost me down the stairs much faster than they'd be able to. Escape was right at the tip of my fingers, the front door becoming visible-

"I don't think so!" A hand wrapped around my ankle, using my momentum against me. I flew, hitting my chin hard against the carpet. It sprung tears to my eyes, but by that point I had so much adrenalin I could barely even feel the pain of the carpet burn. Doing a barrel roll, I found that the culprit had been the sleazy man standing outside my room. Not allowing myself to think about what I was doing, I pulled my foot back, kicking him with all the force I had in the head.

He wasn't dead, he wasn't dead, he _couldn't_ be. This echoed around my head as the man fell forward, leaving him lying on the floor, where I'd been sprawled moments before.

"You bitch!" The monster was fast approaching, his footsteps thundering as he stormed up the staircase. Out of breath and absolutely exhausted, I used the last of my energy to sprint to the front door, yanking it open. And being met, not with civilisation or a road, but rather a forest. "Did you really think it would be so easy?" I knew what he was thinking, that I'd stare in shock at the forest, unable to believe that I'd never be able to escape. But it had become apparent by this point that he didn't know about savants.

The forest was my element. He wouldn't be able to hurt me there. So instead of pivoting around to look at him, I catapulted myself away from the house, running towards the line of trees.

"You can't escape!"

"Oh I wasn't thinking of that." Once I'd gotten to the first tree, I pressed my palms roughly against its bark. And, faster than I'd ever been able to connect with nature, suddenly I was listening to the whole forest. They were all standing to attention, ready to help me in my distressed state.

A blue sky met my wandering eyes. Tall untamed grass tickled my legs. I was breathing, feeling the forest. I was _alive_.

It was time to show him just how strong I'd become at the Benedicts'. I wasn't the pathetic girl, cowering in a corner of a room anymore. I was Petal, queen of the forest, and now that we'd stepped into my territory, there was no way he'd succeed. I was getting myself back to Gray, whether the monster wanted me to or not.

I was finally ready to stand up to the man who'd destroyed my childhood.

 **Hi :)**

 **Ok so a bit more action this chapter, and you also got to see Gray's reaction to finding out Petal was gone. It hurt so much to write it though, cos I was always like "oh no, my poor baby Gray". But don't worry, it'll all get better soon, unless I decide to be an absolute monster (hopefully not, eh?).**

 **We passed the goal last chapter which was just amazing, and I'm so happy you guys are liking what's happening. I mean I was pretty sure I would lose half my fan base the minute I even mentioned a kid napping xD The goal for this chapter is 133, but it's completely optional, as always :)**

 **Bye bye :)**


	39. Chapter 38

At my statement he looked at me in confusion, but soon this cleared to give way to anger once more. He went to charge towards where I was standing, but was stopped by the sound of hundreds of wings beating the air in unison. He glanced up quickly, but obviously didn't deem it important enough to stop his pursuit of me. Smiling at his mistake, I prepared my mind.

 _Um, excuse me, would you mind stopping that man from laying a single finger on me? He's hurt me a lot and I'd appreciate it greatly if you could do this for me._ No sooner had I sent the words into the open that the rustling of wings got louder and louder. They were on us in minutes, encasing me in a protective bubble and shooting towards the monster. However, I had asked so many minds to do me a favour, that my power had skyrocketed, moss growing on any available surface in a 30 metre radius, and roots shooting out of the ground.

It looked like a battle ground, except there was only one enemy, just like there had always been. The monster had taught me that the whole world was against me, that we were all evil and retched, but I now saw that that wasn't the truth. Gray wasn't the only exception to an all-encompassing rule, there were so many good people – Sky, Althea, little Vince and Max, and those were just the nearest to me. It wasn't that the world was bad – the world was good, but sometimes we let bad people make it seem like this isn't the case. I wouldn't let him do that anymore. He was the only enemy in my battlefield, and I was done seeing shadows where there were none.

Off into the distance, blurred by the passing birds, I saw his figure fall to the ground. With a single thought, all the birds halted in their place, rising up to allow for me to pass. This gave me a clear view of the monster, who was writhing in pain on the grassy floor.

"You went against your own family!" He glared at me with what I would've considered an intimidating look. Not anymore though. I wasn't letting him scare me. He was lying down, and I was standing, ready to deliver the final blow. He didn't have anything over me, the glares which had scared me so much only a few minutes ago, no longer felt threatening at all.

"We're not family." With that, I kicked him, years of pent up anger going into the kick. It wasn't like the kick back in the room, when I'd been scared of failing and had barely put any thought into it. This time, I was putting as much emotion as I could place in an action. Anger, frustration, hatred, but also acceptance. Because I'd finally come to terms with it – I was ready to look what he'd done to me in the eyes. He'd abused me. Not due to the whole world being evil and him being another in the crowd, but because he'd _chosen_ to hurt me. He'd hurt me so so much.

But I was ready to become stronger as a result of it.

However, I couldn't force myself to deliver the killing blow, so I looked away. He had a large gash going down his face, and another one in his abdomen, if the blood staining his shirt was anything to go by. He'd pass away sooner or later. And even if he didn't, he wouldn't go after me again, not after what I'd done to him. Without sparing him another glance, I turned around, walking out of the clearing as quickly as possible.

When the birds saw I was finished, most dissolved back into the forest, but a few stayed. Tailing me until I stopped to rest against a tree, as if they wanted to make sure I reached my final destination. I smiled at them in appreciation, my whole body feeling too heavy to do much else. Using that much energy had seemed like a good idea at the time, adrenalin pumping through my veins, but now I realised how dumb it had been.

I was drained, sagging against the trunk of a tree and stranded in the middle of the forest with no way out. I was going to die here, just like the monster. And for some reason, I was feeling ok about that. All my life had been leading up to this point, the moment when I stood up for myself and showed the monster that I wouldn't allow him to be my demise. Now that that had occurred, I felt so accomplished that even death couldn't put me down. What was even the point of living anymore? Not only had everything been leading to today, everything had _always_ revolved around the monster. He was gone, and I didn't even know who I was anymore.

My whole personality was based on what he'd done to me and how I coped. Who would I become now, if anyone at all?

 _Petal! Petal! Petal answer me baby please!_ Jolting out of my morbid day dream, I noticed a faint voice in my mind. It was jumping into and out of focus, and caused a headache to rise, but I ignored all that. I'd remembered something I hadn't taken into consideration when I'd been all but ready to die – Gray. His family, everyone who'd come to care for me in these past months.

They'd help me understand, and would be the new thing my life revolved around. I didn't need a dramatic event to keep me running, I could live a normal life just like anyone else, my memories and personality being shaped by my family, not by a monster.

 _Pet-_

 _I'm here._ Using the last of my strength, I sent him all I remembered of this place, from the log cabin to the clearing to the tree I was leaning on. I also sent a strong pulse of energy, hoping that would be enough to locate me.

And then, everything went dark. I let myself fall into the embrace of the darkness, my aching muscles begging me to finally let go. So I did, after the most excruciating evening I'd had in a long time. But I wasn't ready to give up to the darkness, I'd re-emerge into a world where there was no such thing as a painful day.

Soon I'd get there.

 **Hi :)**

 **Sorry that this chapter is kind of short, but I thought it'd be perfect to end it there. A lot of shit's gonna happen next chapter, so I hope you keep reading to see what I have in store *cue evil laughter* ;)**

 **Thanks so much for all your lovely reviews! We didn't reach the target, but that's ok :) How about we go for 36 next time? Fingers crossed, huh?**

 **Also, to anyone doing exams soon (I don't know about you, but I've got English Lang next week :/ ) tons and tons of good luck. Do amazingly! I know you can :D**

 **Bye bye xx**


	40. Chapter 39

Petal's POV

"Shhh, guys, she's waking up!" Blinking away the sleep, the first thing that met me was the harsh glare of the lighting. Screwing my eyes firmly shut, I decided I could keep them closed for a little bit longer.

"Mmm." My mouth felt like sandpaper, my tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth. It was uncomfortable, to say the least. Reaching out blindly, I tried to find something to help me get up. But as I did this, I realised I shouldn't be here. There were sheets under me, where there should be grass, and there were bright lights where the sun should've been. Yet, most importantly, there were people talking around me, replacing the silence I'd been expecting to find.

But I was shocked at my thoughts, why would be in a forest? Why- Immediately, what I'd done rushed back to me, hitting me like a ton of bricks. Whimpering, this time not due to the luminance but rather because of the emotional pain, I stopped trying to incorporate myself. Burying myself in the heaps of pillows placed around me, I attempted breathing in and out slowly. Counting each breath like the psychologist had taught me to.

One. I was kidnapped. Two. I was almost raped. Three. I had fought for my life. Four. Birds. Five. Trees. Six. Help. Oh god I needed help.

"Help!" Forgetting momentarily about the voices, I found myself with my back against the tree. Everything in my body ached and I had no energy left to escape. There was no one for miles around – I was trapped. I was going to die.

"Pet, Petal, hey, it's ok." Opening my eyes in shock, the trees melted away. I was no longer in the forest, with my dying father behind me. Gray looked me in the eyes, rooting me in place and forcing all the memories back.

"Gray-" I tried to say what I'd wanted to tell him from the forest. I love you. Please don't leave me. But a knot formed in my throat, years of unkempt emotion rising to the surface. Bubbling up and then, just like a geyser, shooting up through the surface. It broke all of my defence – sadness and fear overtaking me. So instead of "I love you", I let out a strangled sob, throwing myself in his arms.

From far far away, I heard a door opening and then closing, but I paid it no heed. In that one moment, it was only us. Us, and all the pain I'd been carrying for much too long. It was ok though, Gray was here, and, together, we could overcome anything.

"I-I-"

"You're here Pet, it's ok, nothing's ever going to hurt you again." Sitting us down on the edge of the bed, he placed me on his lap, rocking us both slowly. He started humming a lullaby, causing my eyes to drift shut of their own accord. Content rested heavy on my chest, the feeling of coming home stronger than anything I'd ever felt before. It replaced all the fear and anguish I'd let loose only seconds prior.

Falling asleep in his arms, I experienced something I'd never felt before. It was the feeling of knowing where I belong. Yes, we still have so much to get through, a life-time of problems awaiting us on the other side of that hospital door. But that was ok. Because he was mine and I was his – and no matter what, we could do this just as long as we were by each other's side. I _belonged_.

"I love you Pet." And with that, I fell back into the darkness. This time, however, I was warm and happy. I was in my soulfinder's arms – nothing could go wrong here.

Gray's POV

As I watched Petal slowly drift to sleep, I saw her lips pull up in an involuntary smile. Unable to help myself, I smiled back like an idiot. There was just so much relief in my chest at having her back and healthy. She was ok, and she was in my arms – where she would always belong. I hadn't told her yet, although I was sure that it had been assumed, but I wanted to spend my whole life with her. I would've even asked her to marry me, had the both of us not been so young.

"Gray." She mumbled under her breath, making me startle out of my train of thought.

"Yeah?" I said it softly back, but she didn't reply, and soon it became evident that she was talking in her sleep. Smiling broader – despite the fact that I'd thought that impossible – I cradled her in my arms, laying back against the pillows. Initially she'd only had one, but I'd been so worried and had so much pent up angst that I'd gone around the hospital smuggling pillows out of empty rooms. It was the only thing I could do to help her, seeing how she was half-comatose.

She'd woken up a couple of times, though most had just been nightmares that momentarily startled her. In fact, when she'd shouted earlier, none of us had been very surprised. It put my heart on edge, just like seeing her in pain always did, but it had occurred so many times that it was an expected reaction. And the fact that her asshole father made her having night terrors a common occurrence, made me want to strangle him.

And I would've, but he was locked away in a prison cell, far out of my reach. We'd found him lying on the ground, just like Pet. But Petal had looked like an angel when we found her, hair spread around her and beautiful purple flowers growing wherever her skin touched the ground. He looked more like an escaped demon rather than anything else. Blood stained the grass around him, and there was moss crawling up his legs as if the forest was already trying to bury him – forget him. I'd had so much fury inside of me that the minute I realised who it was I lunged for him, fire racing through my veins. In fact I was so angry I leaves exploded around me, surrounding me in a halo of fire and fury, all merging together until all that was left of me was the part that belonged solely to Petal.

Luckily dad had stopped me before I gave me third degree burns, but I was prepared to see him perish, much like he'd made Petal live in anguish for years and years of pain. I wanted to scorch his face off, to see him writhing in agony underneath me as I kicked him over and over again. But then my gaze drifted over to Petal, her soft features and beautiful smile. She'd hurt him, but I was sure she hadn't left him alive accidentally - she didn't have it in her to hurt a person so much and so finally. She inspired something inside of me, like cool water washing away the pain and the fire. I unclenched my fists, which had tightened subconsciously, and gathered her back into my chest.

She continued to mumble under her breath, this time about marshmallows and flowers. Not wanting her to begin dreaming about the asshole that had destroyed her life again, I prepared myself in for a long night of staying by her side. Yet despite my promise to stay awake to look out for her, I was soon asleep too. Joining the realm of dreams hand in hand with my soulfinder.

It felt like coming home.

 **Hi!**

 **Oh my god guys, last chapter! Well, I mean, almost last chapter. We've still got the epilogue to go. But gosh it's just so sad, it feels like I only started writing this story yesterday *tears up***

 **Thanks to all of you that have supported me, although I'll properly say my thanks next chapter. I won't set a review goal for this one, but can you guys do me that awesome favour? Just to end the story on a great note :)**

 **Bye bye xx**


	41. Epilogue

"Hey babes." As I caught up with Althea, I gave her a quick hug, the smile on my face not being able to be kept down. "What're you so happy about?"

"I just can't believe we're shopping for baby clothes!" At this she gave me a fond look, almost like I was her pet dog and had done something completely stupid – running into a wall perhaps – but she just had to love me anyway.

"You've been pregnant for 5 months, and you choose _now_ to get excited?"

"When has anything I've ever said made sense?" I asked her, and she shot me another smile, mirth clear in her eyes. As we decided to start the trip, we linked arms, going around town with two big grins on both our faces that probably made us look like lunatics. But if Althea had taught me anything it was that in the great scheme of things we didn't matter, so other people's opinions on us were of very little importance. I liked that about her, how she could do whatever she wanted all the time without caring what other people said. Lately she'd been rubbing off on me.

That thought brought tears to my eyes, because it reminded me of all that time ago, when I was laying against a tree awaiting death. For a minute I'd almost embraced it, thinking that I didn't know who I was – my whole life had revolved around the monster before that point. _I_ , as a person, had revolved around him too. But now I was glad I hadn't given up. I'd realised my personality didn't have to depend on him anymore, I could have Althea's confidence and Sky's kindness and Gray's loyalty. All of my friends and family to base who I was off of. And I couldn't be happier.

As I touched my hand to my stomach lightly, I thought of the little girl on her way. She'd be called Aubrey, and she was going to be the most beautiful girl ever conceived. She'd never have to go through any pain, and she'd certainly never have to ponder hurtful questions like 'who am I to become now?'

"Hey, you ok?" She asked this with an Althea-look-of-concern on her features. Which meant she was looking at me with an eyebrow raised and a teasing glint in her eyes. She didn't really look all that worried, but I knew how to read her.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just thinking."

"Well stop thinking and just let yourself be blinded by all the pastel pink." Glancing up I saw she was right. We were in the middle of a baby shop, and around us all I could see were just aisles and aisles of pink.

"Hm… I'm wondering whether I want to go pink or blue."

"Pink's too mainstream."

"You're right. Let's go purple." I kept it hidden that really I just wanted to leave this aisle due to the feelings that had invaded me within it. I could see it on her features that there was some disbelief over my change of heart, especially considering I'd spent the past couple of weeks talking about cute pink dresses for babies. Yet she never questioned it, simply linking our arms again and dragging me away from all the horrible memories haunting my past.

And so we spent the next three hours scavenging every single store for purple baby clothing, which there wasn't much of. Even still, it was a great day, laughs filling the air without a care in the world.

I absentmindedly made my way into the house that afternoon, humming to myself. I saw Gray there, putting in some soft sticky tape on the corners of the table to baby-proof the table. I watched in admiration from the doorway, the thought that he was doing this for our child, making me smile fondly. I'd gotten to the point in my life where there was nothing I could possibly be sad about. He'd been making me so happy lately, my heart swelling every time our eyes connected. In fact, our gazes meeting wasn't even necessary, just staring at his back made me feel like the luckiest girl alive. Because he was mine, and he'd told me he'd never ever leave me.

Wanting to return a bit of the happiness he'd given me, I silently stalked up to him. Jumping on his back before he had a chance to see that I was in the living room too, I leaned down into his ear.

"Rawr!" He startled for a second before turning his head and smiling at me, laughter shining in his eyes. "That means I love you in dinosaur." I told him seriously, nodding once before the laughter I couldn't keep back betrayed me. I'd wanted to say it with a straight face but the situation just seemed so humorous.

"Oh so you speak dinosaur now?" I nodded again solemnly, trying once again to be serious. It worked for all but two seconds. I dissolved into giggles as he spun me off his back. He was so tall that he was still picking me up though, so that we could be face to face. From up close his eyes made me want to melt. "In that case I suppose I'll have to tell the whole world that I love you in a language you understand." At that point I expected him to either tell me he was joking or actually go and shout it from the rooftops. But instead he leaned down close to my ear.

"What-"

"Rawr, rawr, rawr." Still confused, I cocked my head to the side, staring at him.

"Don't be silly, that's not the whole world, it's just me." He pressed his lips to mine in a chaste kiss and then murmured against my lips.

"You _are_ my world." Smiling broader than I'd ever done, I thought back to these past five years with him. I thought about the engagement ring on my finger and the beautiful girl that was coming in 4 months. I thought of how happy I was by his side – how nothing in this world could separate me from him.

Remembering how broken I was when I'd arrived at the Benedicts' still made melancholy settle heavily in my chest, but for that moment, I forced myself to look back on that darker time. I'd been so convinced that nothing could be done for me, that I was shattered beyond relief. Yet Gray had slowly made his way through my defences, never letting himself be deterred by my broken heart.

And without me even realising, he'd fixed every single broken piece.

 **~The End~**

 **Hi :)**

 **Oh my god, this is the last author's note I will ever leave *tears up***

 **Ok so here we are, at the end of the epilogue, and I have many many people to thank:**

 **Finchy Benedict - you've been absolutely great, and I've loved every single one of your comments. Thanks so much for all of them, they've been a great inspiration :)**

 **Lissa - I never get the chance to thank you personally for any of your reviews as you're a guest, but I honestly owe you so much, and I couldn't be happier that you decided to grace my book with your lovely presence :)**

 **Tahira - This is probably getting really repetitive by this point, but thanks so much to you too, I appreciated all your encouragement loads :)**

 **Guests - It's honestly such a pity I can't even point you out by specific name, but you've all been absolutely wonderful. Thank you so much xx**

 **Ok there** ** _are_** **other people, but if I went through listing them all we'd never finish xD But here are a few: unicornsaren'treal, Booklover, CurseTheGovernment, etc. I loved all your comments just as much, and I thank you all for allowing me the opportunity to feel completely a part of the Finding Sky community.**

 **Also, if you guys want a seque to this (I dunno, maybe Aubrey's story?), send me a review telling me and I'll see what I can do. I really would love to continue this story in some shape or form - I'll miss Petal and Gray so much :'(**

 **Bye bye xx**


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